Ten Changes That Could Keep Clinicians in the Workforce in a Pandemic
By Marcia Frellick, MD Edge
The 10-point, one-page checklist [in the Annals of Internal Medicine Getting Through Covid-19: Keeping Clinicians in the Workforce] includes providing “practical support in the areas that clinicians identify as causing emotional stress or moral injury,” such as managing anger and grief when patients have chosen not to be vaccinated or confronting misinformation.
“Those are the things that are making people's mental health worse” psychiatrist Jessi Gold, MD, MS, said in an interview. “I don't think I've seen that mentioned other places.”
Four Key Questions Leaders Can Ask to Support Clinicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery Phase
By Kerri Palamara, MD, MACP and Christine Sinsky, MD, Science Direct
Individual clinicians are typically able to step up for a temporary crisis, but when crisis becomes steady-state, the stress can be unsustainable. As a nation, the levels of concern about clinician burnout resulting from the stresses of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are rising. There is an increased focus on supporting clinicians during the pandemic recovery phase and beyond. This requires health care leaders to authentically and effectively develop strategies to address these stressors and support their clinicians. In doing so, they may improve the organizational culture and promote post-traumatic growth in the pandemic recovery phase by showing their clinicians that they are valued and appreciated. This perspective provides language and guidance for how to set the stage for honest and open conversations between organizations and their clinicians, and how to begin to strategize in response to what is shared in these conversations.
Protective Equipment for Physicians' Mental Health
By Mollie Frost, ACP Internist
[According to Dr. Barrett] “I hope that everybody who reads this article, that the first thing that they do is work to change their credentialing applications to not ask about mental health. That could be as easy as an email to your medical staff office or to human resources asking them to remove questions that stigmatize mental health care. The second step is to be proactive about sharing mental health resources, such as Emotional PPE, also the Physician Support Line, any state-based resources, and also any employee assistance programs. Third, add those mental health resources as contacts to your phone so that then you can share them with others. And, last, host a grand rounds on this topic, because that's how we start to change the culture.”
Discuss this topic with other ACP members in ACP's Physician Well-being and Professional Fulfillment Forum.
Back to the January 21, 2022 issue of ACP IM Thriving