Most Australians are looking forward to a Christmas season filled with greater freedom spent with family and friends.
Meanwhile, front-line health professionals are ready for an increase in COVID cases and hospitalisations this summer.
They're also worried about the new Omicron variant's possible effect.
A summer increase would put even greater strain on health staff, who are already under stress, according to the study.
Whilst health services and governments have the most of the burden for addressing clinical staff well-being, everyone can do their part to avert a mass exodus of health workers.
What did the research uncover?
Working long hours or shift work, giving emotional support to patients and their families, and patient fatalities all contribute to high levels of stress for health practitioners. This stress has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
In Australia and Denmark, we polled over 3,700 health workers, including nurses, midwives, physicians, and allied health professionals such as social workers, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists.
Despite the comparatively smaller number of cases and fatalities in Australia compared to other countries, we discovered that COVID had a detrimental impact on health professionals' psychological well-being and personal life.
Employees who believed their health care system had reacted effectively to the pandemic and offered enough staff assistance had better mental health than those who did not.
This implies that spending money on support programs helps to safeguard the well-being of health workers and health services to assist and retain employees.
Without proper support, the safe, high-quality care on which we depend might be destroyed by a mass employment migration, growing absenteeism rates, and decreased patient care quality.
What can we do to assist?
We all have a responsibility to play in safeguarding the well-being of this critical workforce and the long-term viability of healthcare systems.
The government and healthcare providers must urgently:
1) Put in place best-practice mental health and well-being programs for health care professionals. Several efforts have been introduced during the epidemic, however, they are unlikely to be adopted or effective if they do not satisfy the demands of health professionals. New support models must be co-designed with health professionals and evaluated to determine what works.
2) Create a continuous method for tracking health workers' mental health and well-being. The majority of data on health worker well-being acquired during the pandemic comes from single-site surveys conducted at a specific period in time. Large, continuing studies can help us follow healthcare worker well-being and any changes over time, including the pandemic's long-term effect.
3) Encourage health professionals to seek assistance when necessary.
The general people may also help by doing the following:
4) Getting vaccinated, including a booster shot, if you are eligible. In addition to adhering to local public health recommendations. High vaccination rates limit the likelihood of new variations arising and protect us if they do. A booster dosage will provide you with greater and longer-lasting COVID protection.
5) Only use the 000 number and hospital emergency rooms for medical situations. If the problem isn't life-threatening, call your GP, local pharmacy, or Health Direct at 1800 022 222. (or Nurse-On-Call in Victoria on 1300 60 60 24)
6) Being nice and polite to health professionals, who have been subjected to greater levels of violence and abuse than usual as a result of the epidemic. Employees in the medical field should feel secure at work.
