News & Views: Taking Care of Your Own and Your Team’s Mental and Physical Health a Year and a half into the Pandemic
Published on in Vaccine Update for Healthcare Providers
Published on in Vaccine Update for Healthcare Providers
Are you exhausted? Feeling like we are taking one step forward and two steps back? That there is no end in sight?
If so, you are not alone. Like the rest of the world, healthcare workers and public health officials have been through a lot during the last year and a half. But for this group — all of you — the experiences often differed somewhat from those of the general population. Early on, this took the form of limited information about the virus causing COVID-19, limited knowledge about the disease and effective treatments, and limited tools to protect oneself, including things as simple as gowns and masks.
Over time, those early issues have partially or completely resolved, but what has not changed is the spread of this infection, and what was once gratitude by a scared public has in some cases become an expectation and even lack of respect for what healthcare providers and public health officials have done day in and day out for many months now — care for the people in their communities, often at the expense of time with their own families or even at the expense of their own health.
Further, for some healthcare providers the high number of critically ill patients, excess deaths and impossible situations, such as filling in for or communicating with families unable to share their loved one’s final moments have made an already difficult situation even more so. As described by Judith Haefner (Haefner, J. Self-care for health professionals during coronavirus disease 2019 crisis. J Nurse Pract. 2021 Mar; 17(3):279-282), these types of situations can have severe psychological consequences, such as:
Right now, we don’t know when this situation will resolve, but we do know that we are not at the end of it. So, this month, we wanted to stray from our usual vaccine-related topics to share some tips for making sure you stay strong physically and mentally while together, we work our way out of this pandemic.
The pandemic has tested everyone, but healthcare providers have been among those whose lives have been upended since the beginning. Remember, we will get to the end of this, and your efforts will have helped many people through this difficult time. Be well!
Contributed by: Charlotte A. Moser, MS, Paul A. Offit, MD
Categories: Vaccine Update August 2021, News and Views About Vaccines
Materials in this section are updated as new information and vaccines become available. The Vaccine Education Center staff regularly reviews materials for accuracy.
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