Pandemic Pandemonium (and the on-going crisis of burn-out in US healthcare

workers.)
In the article written by Berger, E. (2021, November 19) In the article, it was

mentioned that in a recent survey from the American Nurses Foundation,

“21% of nurses said they planned to leave their job within the next six

months, and half of those who wanted to leave said it was because work was

negatively affecting their health and wellbeing.”

This statement actively portrays a healthcare professional’s day-to-day

struggle within their career. Our patients are a huge part of the livelihood of

providers. The care a provider gives is more than just physical; it is, financial,

mental, and emotional care. And often a companion to their patients and

their families. That leaves them left with very little time to look after their

own families and personal well-being. A large contributing factor to the

stressors of the work in this field is that any facility patients outnumber the

amount of nursing staff a facility can offer their patients. So often, one

healthcare professional may be trying to provide care for 15-30 patients, in

one, 12 to16 hour shift. Because many of their daily schedules are in a

constant state of change, we due to caring for patients 24 hours a day, 7

days a week, 365 days a year, the time off spent in their personal lives is

drastically lowered, even more so because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the amount of nursing staff a facility

should have was drastically lower than what was needed for these facilities
to properly function. So, the pandemic only furthered the pandemonium that

these facilities were experiencing due to being completely understaffed. As

well as their healthcare workers are experiencing increased levels of burn-

out. Which can have a major effect on the quality of care that patients

receive from providers.

In the Article (To Address Healthcare Burnout and Turnover) by Drenik, G.

(2022). The conversation had with Ranil Herath, it perfectly describes how

our healthcare system and healthcare professionals in the field, as the global

Covid-19 pandemic neared its end were completely over encumbered and

experiencing higher and more frequent levels of burnout. “As we come out of

a global pandemic, it has become clear that our healthcare system is

overburdened and those who work within it are burned out.”

Burnout can look like; a lack of motivation, recurring headaches, depressed

state of mind, lowered immune system, gastrointestinal issues, little to no

sleep, inability to concentrate, and disinterest in anything that brings you joy

or pleasure. These are just a few of the symptoms many health-care

professionals admit to dealing with. As a current employee within the

healthcare industry, with a little over a decade of work in this field. I can

concur with a few of the statements made regarding the important ways we

can ultimately solve this current crisis in our healthcare conglomerates.

Many unions and facilities across the United States are currently at work with

their local state to raise wages for health-care workers, lowering costs of

education for low-income families looking to advance their careers, as well as

updated and recurrent training for all active healthcare providers to make

sure they are trained to the highest standards of care. Meaning they will be

trained in the best, most up-to-date, safe procedures available to them.

Ranil Herath in the Forbes article with Drenik, G (2022) he furthered his point

on how the burnout our healthcare professionals are experiencing is lowering

their ability to maintain providers. “We need to train additional providers to

help fill the gap, but we can stem the tide by ensuring that we are taking

care of those currently in the industry.”

A great example of how serious the nature of this crisis; is explained by Jill

L Guttormson MS, PhD, RN a, Kelly Calkins PhD, RN b, et. Al. “The coronavirus

disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has put immense strain on

frontline healthcare workers (HCWs).” as she stated, the immense strain of

the covid-19 pandemic and its effects on healthcare professionals, has

created an almost epidemic like frenzy in US healthcare workers looking for

better working conditions and compensation.

So many facilities feel that they are not able to provide better working

conditions, quality pay and self-care to their healthcare workers. And the

Covid-19 pandemic further proved these fears for facilities, due to low

recruitment and higher rates of turnover in their clinicians, physicians, and

nurses. If we take the time to provide our healthcare professionals with

options in schooling, self-care, and adequate time spent with their families,

we can drastically improve the quality of care our providers receive for

themselves but also in how they will provide care to their patients.

Many of the US healthcare professionals are experiencing more burn-out and

that’s causing an alarming rate of providers wanting to leave the field to find

better opportunities for themselves because of a lack of quality, safety, and

care in facilities. Higher exposure rates to covid-19, along with inconsistent

and inconvenient schedules, and lower levels of pay. Are other major

contributing factors I and many other healthcare workers have dealt with. So

many facilities are focused on the quality-of-care patients receive, they

forget to worry about the quality of care for their providers too.

Facilities also must consider the safety of the environment they are

establishing for their healthcare workers as well. As pointed out by many

traveling nurses, they can achieve higher rates of pay, a flexible schedule,
and safer working conditions. And many facilities feel they cannot provide

the same level of quality and safety in their work due to the nature of how a

traveling nurse’s position functions in comparison to that of a healthcare

facility. While safety is a top priority for patients it should be for providers as

well.

Having higher wages, free education and licensing, flexible schedules, low-

cost daycare options, and access to quality self-care assistance will, in the

long run, give our healthcare providers the time that they need to take care

of themselves, their families, and their finances. So that they can continue to

care for all of us, without having to experience so much burnout or fear of

joining the healthcare industry for lack of compensation.

While the healthcare field as an industry does have higher opportunities of

experiencing burnout, the pandemic really heightened the burnout our

healthcare professionals were exposed to. Thus, making it more difficult for

many of the healthcare providers to not take the time to furnish their own

personal care and the care of their families. Ultimately, how our providers

care for themselves will affect how they are able to provide care to their

patients.
Many healthcare professionals take pride in the care they provide. It’s within

our abilities as a community to provide for our providers just as much as they

provide for their patients. I adamantly believe that for any proper,

professional society to function, they will have to agree to the urgent nature

of this crisis and why its imperative that we start implementing some of

these improvements for the safety of the patients and the providers.

Berger, E. (2021, November 19). ‘I can’t do this any more’: US faces nurse
shortage from burnout. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-
news/2021/nov/19/us-faces-nurse-shortage-burnout-covid

Critical Care Nurse Burnout, Moral Distress, and Mental Health During the
COVID-19 Pandemic: A United States Survey - ScienceDirect Critical Care
Nurse Burnout, Moral Distress, and Mental Health During the COVID-19
Pandemic: A United States Survey