[An epidemic of unidentified illness experienced by a hospital's staff: a qualitative study]

An outbreak of non-specific complaints of illness and poor health occurred among 40% of the staff at the Archet 2 Hospital in Nice, France, between October 26 and November 26, 2000. This study utilises a psychosocial approach to describe how health-care workers experienced this unusually extensive phenomenon, and aims to contribute useful findings to the management of this type of emergency situation. A qualitative survey was conducted through face to face personal interviews with the first twelve staff members concerned; moreover, articles published in the press during that period were analysed in order to asses the impact of the media on this event. The study demonstrates that, although the source of the problem originated from an issue possibly related to questionable air quality, there were actually an array of factors which contributed to generate a mass psychogenic phenomenon: substantial collective societal complaints and staff members' perceived non-acknowledgement of the reality of their symptoms, lack of an obvious cause to account for those symptoms and collective representation regarding toxic gases, which were all claims promulgated by articles in the press. In addition to the need for technical improvements on the building and premises, the study underlines the relevance of simultaneously addressing related issues with the social structure, represented by the community of concerned hospital personnel, in order to facilitate a solution to the problem and avoid its potential recurrence in the future.