RE: Strategies to support Healthcare Providers during the Covid-19 Pandemic
References
1. Peter E. Wu, Rima Styra, Wayne L. Gold. Mitigating the psychological effects of COVID-19 on health care workers. CMAJ 2020;10.1503/cmaj.200519.
2. Hlubocky FJ, Back AL, Shanafelt TD. Addressing Burnout in Oncology: Why Cancer Care Clinicians Are At Risk, What Individuals Can Do, and How Organizations Can Respond. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book. 2016;35:271-9.
3. Shanafelt TD, Noseworthy JH. Executive Leadership and Physician Well-being: Nine Organizational Strategies to Promote Engagement and Reduce Burnout. Mayo Clin Proc. 2017;92(1):129-46.
4. Shanafelt T, Ripp J, Trockel M. Understanding and Addressing Sources of Anxiety Among Health Care Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA. 2020.
We thank Wu and colleagues’ for their important commentary regarding potential psychological effects of Covid-19 on health care providers (HCP) (1). Our group of multi-disciplinary oncology providers was formed to support oncology HCP, a group at high risk of burnout (2). We outline additional strategies we developed which complement this commentary.
HCP wellness is a spectrum from engagement to burnout; we recognize that individual characteristics, experiences, and organizational factors can influence one’s position on this spectrum (3). Our approach follows five key considerations for HCP during Covid-19, developed by Shanafelt (4). At the organizational level, our group advocates to ensure the first three principles (“hear me,” “protect me,” and “prepare me,”) are factored into decision-making and communication.
We developed resources aligned with the “support me,” and “care for me” categories. First, “CREATE” (Compassion and REsilience TEam-building) pairs a psychosocial professional with clinical managers to offer support and embed low dose interventions into clinical teams using a coaching and psychological first aid model. Second, we created a toolkit with information on accommodation, grocery delivery, safety, coping, and mental health resources. We also implemented the “Buddy Up” program to foster connectedness, by asking HCP to form groups of twos or threes and check-in daily via phone, email, or text message. Other interventions include “virtual coffee mornings” to debrief, online exercise programs, and virtual meditation lounges led by trained physicians. These provide tailored options for HCP to achieve connection, mindfulness, movement, and meaning.
The Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event that has challenged HCP’s wellness and resilience; however, it provides a unique opportunity to address institutional gaps in dealing with such stressors. We hope that organizations continue ‘hearing, protecting, preparing, supporting, and caring’ for HCPs beyond this pandemic.