Supporting a Precious Resource: Healthcare Clinicians

The well-being of frontline clinicians has received attention over the years (1). But the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its impact on clinicians smacked us all in the face with this reality—images of nurses with bruises on their faces from wearing personal protective equipment, stories of clinicians succumbing to suicide, and a seemingly never-ending surge of patients. Although evidence is building to show the impact of COVID-19 on clinicians, the essentialness of clinicians as one of the most, if not the greatest, precious resource in health care has never been clearer.

In this issue of the Journal, Azoulay and colleagues (pp. 1388–1398) examined symptoms of anxiety, depression, and peritraumatic dissociation in clinicians from 21 ICUs in France during spring 2020 (2). Nearly half of respondents reported anxiety, and a third reported depression and peritraumatic dissociation; these data are consistent with reports from other countries (3, 4). The sheer prevalence of anxiety, depression, and peritraumatic dissociation is staggering. The authors also identified six individual and organizational modifiable factors. Four factors associated with increased depression, anxiety, and disssociation were related to clinicians’ emotions and circumstances. Fear was associated with increased odds of anxiety (odds ratio, 1.21; 95% confidence interval, 1.14–1.28), whereas struggling with difficult emotions (odds ratio, 1.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.06–1.27), inability to care for one’s families (able to care: odds ratio, 0.35; 95% confidence interval, 0.22–0.53), and inability to rest (able to rest: odds ratio, 0.46; 95% confidence interval, 0.29–0.73) were all significantly associated with peritraumatic dissociation. A majority of the sample (84.8%) knew of colleagues infected with COVID-19, and a small but significant proportion knew of a colleague who died. Their family life was also affected. One-quarter of clinicians were completely unable to care for their families, and about half were only able to do so partially. Organizational and policy factors associated with depression were regrets over the restricted visitor policy (odds ratio, 1.49; 95% confidence interval, 1.09–2.04) and witnessing hasty end-of-life decisions (odds ratio, 1.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.29–2.27). These regrets and guilt overlapped with individual struggles with difficult emotions, but only 6.6% requested psychological support. Notably, women had higher odds of anxiety, depression, and dissociation (being male: odds ratio, 0.58; 95% confidence interval, 0.42–0.72), as did nurses and nursing assistants (odds ratio, 1.46; 95% confidence interval, 1.03–2.09) compared with men and other clinicians.

This paper had several strengths. The team should be commended for the timeliness and large sample. Over a thousand clinicians from multiple centers during the peak months of April and May 2020 captured the COVID-19 situation almost in real time in France ICUs. The survey response rate is remarkable considering no incentive payments were provided. This is one of the few studies to include all personnel in critical care and to measure peritraumatic dissociation in ICU clinicians using validated instruments. Many studies have documented the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but measuring dissociation, during a particular trauma, has not been done. Peritraumatic dissociation, which describes the wide array of reaction to trauma such as depersonalization and emotional numbness, is a precursor to PTSD (5) and a more appropriate measure during the pandemic.

Despite the impressive work, their findings warrant further discussion. First, nurses and nursing assistants, predominantly female, had higher rates of psychological burden compared with other clinicians. In France, like the rest of the world, about 90% of nurses are women (6). Gender differences in psychological responses to occupational stress have been widely discussed (7). Even in the general public during COVID-19, women reported significantly higher rates of PTSD compared with men (8). Despite the narrowing of the gender gap in domestic responsibilities (9), more women are still shouldering family care responsiblities. Thus, gender is not a predisposed condition but rather may be a result of societal gender norms that lead women to have increased or competing demands at home and long working hours.

Though workload with COVID-19 was not associated with a higher rate of poor mental health, physical proximity to patients with COVID-19 was not measured. Nurses and nursing assistants spend more time in direct contact with patients. Ran and colleagues (10) found that longer hours in direct contact with patients with COVID-19 was linked to healthcare workers being infected and being fearful of becoming infected. Without exploring the proximity and duration of direct contact, it is difficult to determine if a particular profession is at a greater risk for poor mental health.

Emerging research suggests that anxiety can be spread by social contagion (11, 12). Increasing uncertainty related to COVID-19 has led to overall increases in anxiety. It is plausible that the high prevalence of anxiety in this study may be due to social contagion, that is, by an increase in anxiety among peers. Unfortunately, the current study design prevents further investigation, but future studies could examine this. Doing so would inform interventions to minimize poor mental health outcomes by leveraging peer support commonly found in groups of nurses and healthcare clinicians, especially in light of Azoulay and colleagues’ results that collegial support was paramount. It is also important to note that 10% of clinicians reported euphoria, exaltation, hyperactivity, and high self-esteem. These symptoms may be an indicator of mood instability as described by Azoulay and colleagues, but they could also be coping mechanisms; ICU clinicians may be attempting to find joy at work and reframe their part in the pandemic to give them purpose (13).

Based on these findings and our prior work, support for clinicians must take a three-pronged approach at the national, organizational, and individual levels (14). At the national level, transparency of the situation, communication, and adequate personal protective equipment is a must. At the hospital level, policies for proper time off by conscious scheduling and additional work–life support for primary family caregivers are mandatory to avoid excessive overtime and limit hazardous work hours (15). Most importantly, because clinicians were negatively affected regardless of COVID-19 caseload, all hospitals and units should prioritize clinician well-being by promoting self-care but also by building policy and infrastructures to support clincians in balancing work and life.

In summary, this study highlights the vulnerability of clinicians during an unprecedented time. Every ICU personnel is at risk for psychological stress. As a society, and professional community, we must come together to preserve the well-being of our most precious human resource—healthcare clinicians.