Seattle Times (December 17)
“Being a trusted caregiver—and then feeling helpless in that role—has caused serious feelings of loss and despair,” and this appears likely to cause the professional ranks to shrink. Approximately 20% of nurses and 17% of first responders are likely to exit the field within the next decade.
Philadelphia Inquirer (July 6)
“Interviews with doctors and nurses in the Philadelphia region revealed a sense of relief over a waning pandemic leavened by fears that the virus could surge again. They use different terms to describe what almost a year and a half of being on the front lines of treating COVID-19 has done. Moral injury. Trauma. Burnout. PTSD.” Even now, these “drained health care workers must still maintain a busy schedule as hospitals face a glut of patients who had put off health care out of fears of contracting the virus.”
Tags: Burnout, Busy, COVID-19, Doctors, Drained, Fears, Front lines, Health care workers, Interviews, Nurses, Pandemic, Philadelphia, PTSD, Relief, Surge, Trauma
Chicago Tribune (December 21)
“Even as the first vaccine shots begin to roll out to health care workers, doctors and nurses say they are struggling to make it through the pandemic’s darkest surge yet, in an atmosphere some describe as bordering on exhaustion.” The staff shortage is now “nationwide, to the point that Illinois’ staffing woes seem merely average by comparison. In California, Wisconsin and Virginia, around 30% of hospitals are reporting critical staffing shortages. It’s closer to 40% in Arizona and Missouri.”
Tags: California, Darkest surge, Doctors, Exhaustion, Health care workers, Hospitals Arizona, Illinois, Nurses, Pandemic, Staff shortage, Struggling, Vaccine
