Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare staff at a combined elderly care and specialist palliative care facility: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: In the pre-COVID-19 era, healthcare professionals experienced stress and burnout. The international literature confirms that COVID-19 placed significant additional burdens on healthcare workers. Aim: To describe and characterise the magnitude and variety of ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic affected the personal, social and professional lives of healthcare workers representing several multidisciplinary specialties in a fully-integrated palliative and elderly care service. Design: All staff were invited to complete an anonymised standardised questionnaire evaluating the impact of COVID-19 across a diverse range of domains. The study was conducted over a 6-week period commencing 11 September 2020. Setting: The setting incorporates two distinct but integrated services operating under a single management structure in Ireland: (i) Specialist palliative care across hospice (44 beds), community and hospitals and (ii) Elderly Care Service (long-term and respite care) delivered in a 63-bed inpatient unit. Results: 250 respondents (69.8%) completed the questionnaire. Nurses and healthcare assistants comprised the majority of respondents (60%) and other disciplines were represented proportionately. 230 participants (92%) agreed that their personal workload had changed significantly in response to COVID-19 and 182 (72.8%) agreed that their responsibilities had increased. 196 (78.4%) reported greater work-related stress. Highest-rated sources of stress included fear of contracting COVID-19 or transmitting it to friends/family, interacting with isolated frail/dying patients, changes to workplace protocols and reduced social interaction with colleagues. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the profound impact of COVID-19 on personal and professional wellbeing of staff. The greatest burden was carried by those providing prolonged, direct and intimate patient care.

Transition to clinical practice during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study of young doctors’ experiences in Brazil and Ireland

“…This led many to effectively isolate from their social support networks during what is already a typically stressful period in their training. In a quantitative survey of palliative care health workers, we have recently demonstrated the profound impact of COVID-19 on personal and professional well-being of patient-facing clinicians 50. Similar to that observed in the current study, among the highest rated sources of stress were fear of contracting COVID-19 or transmitting it to friends/family, and reduced social interaction with colleagues.…”

“…One of the limitations of the study is that it may be assumed that the specific work context would have influenced the young doctors’ experience during the pandemic, but this factor was not explored in the current analysis. The current sample was based (and in some case rotated through several) across diverse range of hospital-based clinical settings, and previous studies have shown that those with greater direct exposure to patients with COVID-19 in terms of proximity and time reported greater levels of stress and anxiety during the first 6 months of the pandemic 50. Additionally, the study design does not allow the distinction to be made between transitional challenges unrelated to the current pandemic which are experienced by new medical graduates, relative to concerns which might be exacerbated by COVID-19.…”

Tackling the Pandemic a Year Later: Burnout Among Home Palliative Care Clinicians

“…The high level of support and communication within the healthcare team reported in previous studies among PCPs 42 , 43 is a known protective factor against development of burnout syndrome and psychological distress. 44 Summarizing evidence and recommendation for the palliative care response to COVID-19, Etkind and colleagues 5 pointed out that facilitating camaraderie among staff is important in order to minimize potential negative effects caused by pandemic; together with improving connectedness and helping workers dealing with stress, this action is an organizational device able to ensure positive adjustment of PCPs.…”

Have infection control and prevention measures resulted in any adverse outcomes for care home and domiciliary care residents and staff?

“…A cross-sectional survey by Nestor et al, (2021) found that nursing and healthcare staff working exclusively in elderly care settings reported stress and anxiety due to constantly changing IPC protocols (specifically related to PPE) with little to no explanation of the rationale driving the protocol changes. Constantly changing IPC protocols was ranked 4 th highest of 17 workplace stressors by nursing and healthcare staff (Nestor, O' Tuathaigh, & O' Brien, 2021). In the Sizoo et al, (2020) qualitative study, care home staff stated that there were moral issues with adhering to IPC measures.…”