I was recently thinking about burnout among healthcare workers in the context of COVID-19. It is certainly a palpable phenomenon in my department. The tone of the department is dramatically different compared to before the pandemic. And staff retention has certainly been significantly affected by all of the 2nd and 3rd order consequences of COVID and related policies.
As I was looking into the idea of burnout l ran across an article published in 2021 discussing burnout related to COVID-19 among healthcare works in northern Italy in 2020. The results were not surprising given the intensity of the COVID outbreak in this region. A large percentage of the healthcare workers displayed emotional exhaustion, low professional efficacy and a high degree of cynicism.
This degree of burnout among a cohort of healthcare workers who just engaged in a protracted and exhausting event makes sense. But this isn't the result that I found particularly surprising. The data presented specifically in Table 2 caught my attention. It was a perception of stress and risk by the respondents in the study.
Respondents to the study indicated that due to the pandemic they had an increased workload (65%) and were required to perform work that they previously did not have to do (59%). Yet despite these increasing demands on the healthcare workforce, going to work day after day, enduring the long hours in suffocating PPE, caring for patients suffering from COVID, 91% of respondents accepted the risk of caring for COVID-19 patients despite 82% being afraid of catching COVID (remember this study was done before the vaccine).
While this alone explains burnout among healthcare workers, the rest of Table 2 continues to illuminate the resilience of healthcare workers through he pandemic. Respondents were asked if they were avoided by their families or other people as a result of COVID. Fortunately the majority of healthcare workers had supportive families (60%). This despite 65% of healthcare workers being afraid to infect their families. But 23% of respondents did indicated that their families avoided them due to COVID. The reception to healthcare workers was significantly more tepid from the general public at 49% of healthcare workers indicating that people avoided them because of their job.
I found this article to be particularly interesting highlighting the resiliency of healthcare worker, the healthcare ethos and also the emotional and social hardships faced by healthcare workers during the COVID pandemic. I am not particularly surprised (though a little disheartened) by the fact that the general public avoided healthcare workers. On its face, I can see the logic. "There is a deadly virus going around and you might have it, so stay away from me." Thought I am disheartened that was have become a society where all we see in one another is a threat. But more specifically, I am disheartened by the 23% of respondents who indicated that they were avoided by their families. Dealing with COVID and the related consequences is challenging by itself. But doing while separated from the emotional support of families and friends is devastating.
In the past 3 years we have been through a very physically and emotionally challenging pandemic (for everyone). We have placed an increasing burdened on the shoulders of healthcare workers while simultaneously kicking them in in the knees through restrictions, requirements, shortages and social ostracism. So to my fellow brothers and sisters in healthcare, you have been given a difficult job and have risen to face the challenge. As you get up and go to work, know this...
You are my heros!
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