COVID-19 and Psychosocial Well-Being: Did COVID-19 Worsen U.S. Frontline Healthcare Workers’ Burnout, Anxiety, and Depression?

Abstract

Healthcare workers are highly regarded for their compassion, dedication, and composure. However, COVID-19 created unprecedented demands that rendered healthcare workers vulnerable to increased burnout, anxiety, and depression. This cross-sectional study assessed the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 on U.S. healthcare frontliners using a 38-item online survey administered by Reaction Data between September and December 2020. The survey included five validated scales to assess self-reported burnout (Maslach Summative Burnout Scale), anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-2), resilience (Brief Resilience Coping Scale), and self-efficacy (New Self-Efficacy Scale-8). We used regression to assess the relationships between demographic variables and the psychosocial scales index scores and found that COVID-19 amplified preexisting burnout (54.8%), anxiety (138.5%), and depression (166.7%), and reduced resilience (5.70%) and self-efficacy (6.5%) among 557 respondents (52.6% male, 47.5% female). High patient volume, extended work hours, staff shortages, and lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and resources fueled burnout, anxiety, and depression. Respondents were anxious about the indefinite duration of the pandemic/uncertain return to normal (54.8%), were anxious of infecting family (48.3%), and felt conflicted about protecting themselves versus fulfilling their duty to patients (44.3%). Respondents derived strength from their capacity to perform well in tough times (74.15%), emotional support from family/friends (67.2%), and time off work (62.8%). Strategies to promote emotional well-being and job satisfaction can focus on multilevel resilience, safety, and social connectedness.

U.S. Physicians’ Training and Experience in Providing Trauma-Informed Care in Clinical Settings

“…This is a crucial finding, given the overlap between compassion fatigue and physician burnout. Both compassion fatigue and physician burnout are considered occupational hazards [67,68]. These reflect the psychological and emotional toll that providing care takes on physicians.…”

“…These reflect the psychological and emotional toll that providing care takes on physicians. These are the hidden costs of caregiving that can impact personal well-being, quality of patient care, treatment decisions, and job satisfaction, including the overall delivery of care [67,68]. Those dealing with compassion fatigue tend to offer themselves fully to their patients and their work to the detriment of their own personal well-being [67] while those experiencing burnout become more emotionally withdrawn [67,68].…”

Evaluation of psychological distress, burnout and structural empowerment status of healthcare workers during the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study

“…The global healthcare system has faced unprecedented challenges in combating the spread of SARS-CoV-2, with HCWs on the frontline [ 7 , 8 ]. In the early stages of the pandemic, HCWs experienced inadequate training in infection control, a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), and an overwhelming workload [ 9 , 10 ].…”

COVID-19 crisis management of German ICU clinicians in leadership – a metaphor analysis

“…The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with existing long-term and ongoing crises in health systems around the world: economic pressure and increasing staff shortage had already weakened hospitals years before ( 1 , 2 ). Thus, in the beginning, the COVID-19 crisis manifested itself in the shortage of critical resources in the intensive care units (ICUs) and exacerbated challenges for healthcare professionals (HCPs) ( 3 ). The first COVID-19 wave in Germany occurred in weeks 10–20 of 2020 with a total of 175,013 registered cases throughout the country.…”