Background
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the world has had to adjust to new ways of living and new work environments that have added additional stressors into their overall well-being. In particular, healthcare personnel has had to cope with additional stress and look for ways to build resilience around the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers can range from nurses, social workers, doctors, first responders, janitors, food staff, patient care technicians, and other administrative roles that have been essential in treating people who are getting chronically ill from the infection. As of November 8th, 2020, there have been a total of 9,808,411 positive cases of COVID-19 and 236,543 related deaths in the United States according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (U.S., 2020). At this time, the cases are going up again and the endpoint for COVID-19 remains uncertain. As this pandemic rages on, not only is there a physical risk for our health heroes but a mental health risk as well. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities often overlook the safety of healthcare support, service, and direct care workers that are on the frontline of this highly contagious pathogen.
Common Stressors and Responses
The healthcare workers have reported common fears and concerns that often lead them to feel a range of emotions. One of the major concerns that they report is the fear of contracting the virus and bringing it home to their families. In addition, they have reported being concerned with needing more access to childcare when they are working longer hours and schools are being shut down (healthcare leaders, 2020). If they get exposed to the virus, who will be able to take care of their children and other household members while they are quarantining? They also report not feeling heard by leadership on their mental health status. When the pandemic initially began, many of the healthcare workers were focused on how to physically protect themselves, their patients, and their families. Having insufficient access to protective personal equipment (PPE) has also been reported as a major concern for frontline workers due to hospital shortages across the country (Kinder, 2020). This has led healthcare workers to feel frustrated, angry, and fatigued due to them feeling like their lives are not a priority. One study found that 75 percent of home care workers, had shortages of masks and hand sanitizers (Kinder, 2020). Another anxiety-provoking factor is that many workers report that there was no prior training on what to do if an outbreak occurs. Families are not allowed to be at dying patient’s bedsides, so workers have had to step up and be emotional supports for the patients all while wearing PPE gear that creates physical barriers to connecting with the patients (COVID 19, 2020). As a result, healthcare workers have witnessed a lot of clogged up grief and hopelessness among their colleagues and supervisors.
Providing care and doing their job well can lead to many psychological responses that can negatively impact the quality of care and well-being of the worker. Symptoms of stress that healthcare workers often experience during COVID-19 include feelings of irritation, anger, denial, nervousness, helplessness, and lack of motivation. Some more signs of mental distress that have been commonly reported by healthcare workers are feeling overwhelmed, burned out, depressed, difficulty sleeping and concentrating (COVID 19, 2020). This impacts the way they perform at work and can ultimately lead to more negative health outcomes for the patients. Workers who are dealing with COVID 19 positive patients firsthand have reported feeling powerless or a sense of failure due to not being able to save lives and have also shown symptoms of onset post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Support Recommendations
- Federal and state governments need to develop policies that mobilize manufactures to increase the supply chains on PPE supply for hospitals and healthcare facilities.
- Healthcare facilities need to increase training, communication, and mental health resources for their employees.
- For workers experiencing more severe trauma symptoms and other mental health issues due to the pandemic, their employers should encourage them to seek treatment.
- Adopt new ways to assess healthcare workers on their well-being needs that allow them to process psychological and emotional trauma.
- Healthcare workers should be encouraged to increase their sense of control during the pandemic by keeping a consistent routine when possible, ideally to one that was similar before the pandemic.
- Healthcare workers should be encouraged to use self-care techniques when on and off duty hours and allow themselves a break from work-related things.
NOMINATE A HEALTHCARE HERO USING THE LINK BELOW:
-Mark Marroquin
References
Common staff fears and concerns |COVID-19 considerations for healthcare leaders. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/hcp/mhconcerns.pdf
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S. (2020, March 28). Retrieved from https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). (2020, August 27). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/mental-health-healthcare.html
COVID‐19's crushing mental health toll on health care workers. (2020, September 4). Retrieved from https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncy.22347
Kinder, M. (2020, June 17). Essential but undervalued: Millions of health care workers aren’t getting the pay or respect they deserve in the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/essential-but-undervalued-millions-of-health-care-workers-arent-getting-the-pay-or-respect-they-deserve-in-the-covid-19-pandemic/
Hey Mark! Thank you so much for shedding light on what frontline workers are facing during this pandemic. Already physically and emotionally exhausting work has gotten infinitely more challenging for health care professionals across the board. I have seen first-hand how this pandemic has affected the frontline workers in my life and the toll it is taking on all aspects of their health. I appreciated that you outlined support recommendations that should be considered as we move forward during this time. As you mentioned, the end of this pandemic is uncertain and we need to come together as a national community to safeguard health care heroes and other essential workers.
ReplyDelete-Riley Ramirez
Great post, Mark! My mom is a nurse and we've had various talks about this topic. Just the other day she told me that she was a bit fearful for her job because many units in her hospital's network are closing in light of COVID. Nurses are being let go and there are few opportunities to transfer to other areas even though hospitals need additional support to help navigate the pandemic. This is so unethical in my opinion- for both the nurses and patients who are now left underserved.
ReplyDeleteTo solve some of the everyday issues many healthcare workers are dealing with in light of these stressors, I believe hospitals should consider allocating some of their human resources and/or psychological care funds to serve the them. For example, many hospitals have psychologists and social workers on site. While traditionally they are there to serve the patients directly, why not try to reconfigure some of the organizational structure temporarily to give healthcare workers themselves the opportunity to receive emotional support? After all, in caring for them you're caring for the patients!