Health Care Workers, Mental Health and COVID 19: Awareness, Response, Resiliency-Handout: Health Care Workers, Mental Health and COVID 19

Handout: Health Care Workers, Mental Health and COVID 19

Pdf Summary

This document summarizes a panel discussion on the mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The panelists highlight the extreme stress and anxiety experienced by healthcare workers and the potential long-term effects such as PTSD. Various strategies and resources are discussed for supporting healthcare workers, including tiered staff support models, licensed peer support, and pastoral care. Primary and secondary prevention measures are emphasized, such as evaluating coping mechanisms and reducing distress. Ethical tensions faced by frontline clinical teams are addressed, including balancing patient care with personal safety and societal commitments. The importance of personal resilience is highlighted, with recommendations to prioritize physical health, self-regulation, positive mindset, problem-solving, and social connections. Workplace support, including effective leadership, supervision, employee empowerment, training, and staff health and wellness programs, is identified as crucial for promoting resilience. Practical tips for staying calm and coping with the crisis are provided, such as deep breathing, relaxation techniques, mindfulness, focusing on what can be controlled, and letting go of what can't be controlled. The document concludes with an invitation for questions from the audience.

Keywords

mental health

healthcare workers

COVID-19 pandemic

stress

anxiety

PTSD

supporting healthcare workers

coping mechanisms

workplace support

resilience promotion