Newsletters

POSTED: April 20th, 2021
POSTED IN: EM Pulse - The Official Newsletter of MOCEP, March/April 2021,

Written by Rawan Safa, MD, PGY-1, Emergency Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine

Many people have been at increased risk for burnout and depression during the pandemic. It has heightened the levels of uncertainty in the world – whether regarding employment, economy, family meetings, social encounters, and concern for physical health¹. When talking about mental health during the pandemic, the people perhaps experiencing the most trauma are the health care workers.

Front line health care workers, specifically in the Emergency Department, have been at high risk for anxiety and burnout while working during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic². Physicians put their physical, along with their mental health, at risk to treat patients infected with COVID-19. In a survey done for EM physicians, the struggles described by more than 5,000 US physicians were increased personal risk, inability to practice medicine as usual, income cuts, and loneliness.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, EM physicians have been working wearing personal protective equipment due to the potential risk of becoming exposed to the virus  themselves. In addition, sometimes they are one of the few people available at the patient’s bedside when the coronavirus takes a life. The medical staff are invested in playing a role in improving care to the sick, but also providing comfort to the patients when they are suffering, because they are unable to have their loved ones around them.

The level of uncertainty only expanded later on during the pandemic. Resident physicians were arriving to work terrified and stressed not only because of the emotionally and mentally draining possible outcomes of the patients, but also they were scared for their lives and anybody around them. They were scared they were a potential risk for their loved ones and families when they returned home. All of this added to the overall fatigue – with a break seeming to be too far away because of the many unknowns of the situation.

Moreover, many EM physicians lost their colleagues to the virus. Many physicians were getting infected with the virus, and suffering from severe illness and death, adding to the emotional toll on the work done every day. Many EM physicians who are also mothers expressed their new norm of showering upon arriving home before hugging their kids. This seems like an impossible  situation every time, especially when the kids are waiting all day to see them.

However, there was still a silver lining to all the stress, uncertainty, and fear. Resident physicians across the U.S. have reported improved relationships and the ability to share emotional experiences with their colleagues. Many have reported an increase in bonding with co-residents, faculty, nursing staff, and other health care workers. Everyone has been supportive of one another, like a family, to deal with their flooding emotions and lift each other up. The pandemic has also shown an outpouring of support from our communities and the wishes to help us move forward.

In the midst of the helplessness and darkness, the COVID-19 vaccine was the light at the end of the tunnel for all of us. For most of us, there were so many emotions when getting the vaccine – a surreal feeling that the future will hold better things. The vaccine provided us relief from anxiety of high exposure chances every time we enter a patient’s room. The fear and frustration of possibly more colleagues getting the virus has subsided significantly. The vaccine has provided us all with more hope than ever that this too shall soon come to an end.

Sources:

¹ Carnevale JB, Hatak I. Employee adjustment and well-being in the era of COVID-19: Implications for human resource management. J Bus Res. 2020;116:183-187. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.037

² Rodriguez RM, Montoy JCC, Hoth KF, Talan DA, Harland KK, Eyck PT, Mower W, Krishnadasan A, Santibanez S, Mohr N, f or the Project COVERED Emergency Department Network, COVID-19-Related Stress Symptoms Among Emergency Department Personnel, Annals of Emergency Medicine (2021), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2021.01.028.