5 factors that contribute to burnout among healthcare workers during the pandemic
Since day one, healthcare workers have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been the professionals everybody looked up to for advice on how to better protect themselves from contracting the virus, how to treat coronavirus disease, and how to control the virus from spreading. This means a huge responsibility that has occurred out of nowhere, resulting in stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and other concerns.
Hospitals and medical facilities have been overwhelmed by a huge number of patients and short-staffed as the coronavirus pandemic has experienced new waves in most areas of the world. This has significantly impacted the workforce in the healthcare industry through a range of factors, including increased workload and working hours, the impact of heroes narratives, anxiety over infection risk, emotional strain from seeing large numbers of patients suffering and dying.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the already existing challenges among the workforce in the medical systems around the world were exacerbated. This article explores the factors that contribute to burnout, among other mental health concerns, among healthcare workers during the pandemic. Keep reading below to find out more!
1. An increased amount of work
The number one thing that made healthcare workers experience burnout and stress, and anxiety at levels they’ve never experienced before was the increased amount of work.
The healthcare sector was a crucial industry even before the pandemic, with many professionals already working extra shifts to compensate for the lack of a sufficient workforce. But, when the pandemic started, these experts had to work twice as much as ever before.
A considerable number of patients arrived in hospitals and clinics on a daily basis, and the number of people who needed medical support only increased by the day, especially as new waves of the pandemic were unfolding.
What’s even scarier is that doctors’ and healthcare workers’ fatigue and burnout also put patients in new risk situations. More precisely, extreme fatigue and burnout can make medical experts more predisposed to making medical mistakes that can lead to injuries and even deaths among patients.
2. Patients are difficult to work with
The COVID-19 pandemic took everyone by surprise, especially medical experts who were forced to stay on the front lines of a battle they initially knew very little about.
However, doctors and nurses weren’t the only ones confused about what was happening around the world. So were the patients they were treating.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a lot of confusion, anxiety, and fear. Due to the lack of sufficient information, average people are terrified regarding their condition and what can happen to them. This can also be a challenge for doctors who must also calm down their patients, explain what has happened, and provide extra information to each person.
Besides the extra amount of work involved in assuring each patient that they are safe, they also need to tackle their soft skills to interact with every patient and provide empathy and understanding. Needless to say, this also puts a lot of pressure on healthcare workers.
3. Access to sufficient medical supplies
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic was a major surprise for everybody around the world. Hospitals and clinics are no exception to the rule, facing major supply issues in the first months of the pandemic.
Since there was a lot of confusion around the virus, how it is transmitted, and how it can be treated, medical facilities did not have enough supplies suitable for fighting the virus. This was also a challenge medical experts faced and experienced stress about.
Imagine this: you’re dealing with a considerable number of patients who need the same type of treatment for coronavirus disease. However, you only have a limited amount of necessary supplies, and this can mean that you may have to decide which patient to treat first. It’s clear that such a scenario can lead to guilt, sadness, and stress.
Inability to do their job correctly has also impacted healthcare workers’ mental wellbeing by making them experience a lot of stress, anxiety, and confusion.
4. Anxiety over the next surge in cases
The coronavirus pandemic has experienced several waves. After seeing some improvements in the number of daily cases and deaths caused by COVID-19, new phases and waves arrived as new variants of the virus appeared. This has made healthcare workers worry about a new surge in cases, making them experience a significant increase in workload.
The entire period of this pandemic was a very busy one for all front-line workers, particularly the employees in the healthcare system. Even when things seemed to get more relaxed, as restrictions and people’s actions were helping decrease the number of patients, there was still the anticipatory anxiety that most medical professionals experienced.
5. Safety in the workplace
Last but not least, healthcare workers also faced increased anxiety and stress levels over safety in the workplace. The coronavirus can be very contagious, and the virus can quickly spread from one person to another. Thus, working with infected patients puts medical experts atsignificant risk of getting the disease themselves. What’s more, this also meant that they could take the virus at home and expose their loved ones.
Lack of safety in the workplace and the potential consequences they might experience have made healthcare workers deal with a lot of anxiety and stress. What’s more, they have also experienced guilt over putting their loved ones in danger as well.
Wrapping up
The COVID-19 pandemic quickly became a significant burnout issue affecting most front-line workers, particularly medical experts. The combination of stress and possible exposure has made healthcare professionals, from doctors to nurses to specialists, at greater risk of burnout and mental health issues.
