Enhancing Psychological Sustainment & Promoting Resilience in Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 & Beyond

Abstract

COVID-19 is a unique disaster, which has placed extreme stress on Healthcare Workers (HCWs) and the systems in which they work. Eradicating the pandemic requires sustainment of the healthcare workforce through actions that mitigate stress, promote resilience, and enhance performance. A major barrier is the lack of organizational practices and procedures designed to sustain HCWs during prolonged crisis events, such as COVID-19. Adapting existing best practices from other high-risk occupations allows for a more rapid, efficient response to optimize workforce well-being and preserve healthcare organizational functioning. This paper discusses current and emerging literature on the unique impacts of COVID-19 on HCWs and provides actionable, evidence-informed recommendations for individuals, teams, and leaders to enhance sustainment of HCWs that is critical to the preservation of national and global health security.

Psychosocial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Healthcare Workers and Initial Areas of Action for Intervention and Prevention—The egePan/VOICE Study

“…Based on this, one could conclude that society and a sense of community can be seen as a protective factor and loneliness and isolation as a risk factor [ 60 ]. The importance of social support as a resilience factor among healthcare workers in the pandemic is also demonstrated by the work of Schmuck et al, 2021 [ 61 ] and Morganstein et al, 2021 [ 62 ]. Given the persistent and repetitive measures in addition to the dynamics of the pandemic since the first wave, this fact seems all the more critical.…”

Posttraumatic growth among health care workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This finding also underscores the potential utility of health system, team-based, and individual interventions aimed at helping health care workers cultivate positive emotions in real-time during a crisis. For example, efforts at both individual and organizational levels to deliberately understand and encourage reflection as to how one has been affected by the pandemic; identify role-models who have grown through adversity; encourage viewing the pandemic as both a crisis and as an opportunity to improve on the status quo; and assess how the pandemic may have helped build connections with the broader community may help foster PTG in FHCWs ( Morganstein and Flynn, 2021 ; Olson et al., 2020 ).…”

“…For example, investment in workplace and clinical interventions that focus on relationship-building (e.g. peer-support and buddy programs, strengths-focused programs that foster community; Albott et al., 2020 ; Morganstein and Flynn, 2021 ) and meaning in work ( Hamama-Raz et al., 2021 ) may help bolster resilience to pandemic-related stress and possibly PTG, though further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions in this population.…”

Interventions for adapting health care providers to new situations in the workplace during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A scoping review for developing a policy brief

“…Plans and policy interventions must be adapted to the new circumstances, and they should support the staff to overcome the COVID‐19 pandemic crisis (Cipolotti et al, 2021 ). Eradicating the pandemic requires sustainment of the health care workforce through actions that mitigate stress, promote resilience, and enhance performance (Morganstein & Flynn, 2021 ). Thus, due to a lack of adequate support by health care officials for health care personnel (Delgado et al, 2020 ); an increase in the necessity of immediate support strategies for health care personnel during the COVID‐19 pandemic; and a lack of evidence‐based interventions to adapt health care providers to the new imposed work environment, this study aimed to develop interventions for adapting health care providers to the new situation in the workplace during the COVID‐19 pandemic so that health system planners and policymakers may develop and implement action plans with more confidence in their choice of interventions.…”