b'| SELF CARE GUIDEAvoiding Stress OverloadHospital and facility leadership can help staffers keep work-related tension in checkBy Mark McGrawH aving a job means dealing withiety, insomnia and psychological distress inScarcity of materials, time pressures, risks work-related stress. the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.from the physical work environment and the This is true in any field. But theCurrent circumstances only underscoreunknown are a few examples of the types of nurses, physicians, therapists, and others onthe importanceand difficultyof effectivelystressors or external demands that are facing the care team at your facility consistentlycoping with work-related stress in healthcare.healthcare providers in todays pandemic, operate at a stress level that few others trulyAs a leader at your facility, theres plenty yousays Sharma, who studies stress and power in know. can do to help them manage the load.organizations. A quick Google search will find a raft ofOther causes of occupational stress in data supporting the notion that healthcareCONSIDERING THE STRESS FACTORS healthcare, she says, can include a lack of clar-professionals are among the most stressed inOf course, occupational stress among health- ity regarding ones job duties, contradictory or the working world, and the effects are takingcare workers predates COVID-19, says Bridgetcompeting expectations and a lack of social a heavy toll. Consider: Duffy, MD, chief medical officer at Vocera.support from supervisors and/or colleagues. More than half of working nurses con- Before the Coronavirus pandemic surgedCompounding the issue in some health sider themselves to be in subpar physicalacross the country, healthcare workers faced aprofessions or facilities is a workaholic and and mental health. number of challenges that caused stress, com- perfectionist culture that leaves some reluc-Medscapes National Physician Burnout,passion fatigue, cognitive overload, burnout andtant to truly disconnect from work, says Tasha Depression and Suicide Report 2019depression, says Duffy, noting that the potentialHolland-Kornegay, PhD, LPCS, a licensed found 44 percent of more than 15,000for workplace violence is a much greater sourcemental health counselor and founder of www.physicians saying they were burnedof stress in healthcare than in most professions.wellnessirl.com/, a website designed to help out. Another 11 percent described(Indeed, Occupational Safety and Healthdecrease healthcare provider burnout. themselves as colloquially depressedAdministration (OSHA) statistics bear outThis type of culture only serves to incentiv-(feeling down, blue or sad, according toDuffys statement, and OSHA finds thatize overworking, and can easily set one on the the studys authors).approximately 75 percent of nearly 25,000road to the type of burnout so prevalent in the Medical professionals have long beenworkplace assaults reported each year occurhealthcare profession, says Holland-Kornegay. considered among the most at-riskin healthcare and social service settings.) Always being on the clock and spending for suicide among all occupations. ForPayal Sharma, PhD, an assistant professoroff time thinking about work is often seen as example, estimates from as far back asof business at the University of Nevada-Lasimpressive and ambitious. But, as weve seen, the 1970s put the rate of physician sui- Vegas, sees how COVID-19 has added to theit can result in severe personal and profes-cides in the U.S. at nearly one per day.list of factors causing healthcare providerssional setbacks. Of course, the Coronavirus pandemic thatstress every day:Many healthcare workers might feel has gripped the U.S. and overloaded its health- Long (and sometimes odd) hour like theyre still on the clock after coming care system since March has done plenty toPatient overloadhome, she continues. And each day that up the stress quotient for care providers. InHigh expectations from patients andone presses on, they just get more and more fact, a new study finds many healthcare work- supervisorstired. Healthcare workers are trusted with the ISTOCKers suffering symptoms of depression, anx- Dealing with trauma and, yes, deathwell-being of others, but if they arent at their www.elitecme.com |2020| SELF CARE GUIDE 17'