Caring for Patients That Do Not Care About You
Health care workers’ frustration with defiant patients during the latest COVID-19 surge
The pandemic has taken a toll on everyone. But healthcare workers are repeatedly bearing the brunt of the stress and frustration of the public. A recent survey shows that 61% of physicians felt burned out during the pandemic. Health care workers that directly care for COVID-19 patients are more likely to suffer from mental distress, depression, and anxiety. On top of this, health care workers are facing more violence in the workplace. A closer look at the latest COVID-19 surge shows just how demanding the pandemic has been on health care workers as the public tries to cling to normalcy, sometimes ignoring health professionals in the process.
Patient Perception of Health Care Workers
In early 2020, health care workers were called heroes and applauded for their bravery and sacrifice. However, large groups of people ignored mask mandates, disregarded social distancing guidelines, and now refuse to get vaccinated. Misinformation rapidly spread online. Slanderous speculations were made suggesting that physicians and other healthcare professionals were inflating COVID-19 case numbers to increase their income.
While a recent survey by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the U.S. public has high trust in nurses and physicians, they have low levels of trust for public health institutions. Additionally, people’s confidence in their physician has dropped, with nearly one in five patients considering changing their primary care physician.
Health care workers experience this backlash directly when dealing with patients. Many health care workers are facing open hostility from patients whose belief in conspiracy theories have convinced them that health care workers are now adversaries. This has a domino effect, as verbal, psychological, and physical abuse can lead to depression, burnout, and suicide among health care professionals.
In a tweet, author and recovery coach Jessica Lahey (@jesslahey) ridiculed the politicization of COVID-19 and the treatment of physicians, as a pediatrician needed a security escort to speak at a board of education meeting. Sadly, the violence health care professionals have faced make security a necessity.
Workplace Violence
Workplace violence is a growing problem in healthcare. From 2011 to 2018, there was a 67% increase in violence-related health care worker injuries in the United States, with health care and social service workers being five times more likely to experience workplace violence than other workers. And this violence has only gotten worse since the pandemic began. A 2020 study by the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry found that health care workers were about 50% more likely than others to be harassed, bullied, or injured as a result of COVID-19.
While health care workers in all specialties face workplace violence, emergency medicine physicians and health professionals face violence at an alarming rate. A recent study of emergency medicine physicians found that 71% reported witnessing an assault, while 47% reported being physically assaulted themselves. Additionally, 97% of these physicians said that the main source of these assaults was patients.
Nurses are often victims of workplace violence because of their frequent patient interactions, and they are experiencing worse violence as the pandemic continues. One study estimated that over 40% of nurses experienced workplace violence during the pandemic. In 2020, a National Nurses United survey found that about 20% of participants faced an increase in workplace violence, which they believed stemmed from COVID-19 related factors.
Racism has only added to the burden that health care workers face. The false and inflammatory remarks made about COVID-19 have increased violence towards Asian and Pacific Islanders. Anti-Asian hate crimes in 16 of the largest U.S. cities and counties rose by 164% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.
Workplace violence has many serious consequences, including burnout. Studies show that workplace violence is positively correlated with burnout for health care workers. Burnout can lead to mental health issues, increased substance abuse, and higher suicide rates for physicians and other health care workers. This violence is unacceptable and needs to be addressed by health leaders.
Health Care Worker Frustration
Health care workers are frustrated and unsure what else they can do. Physicians in South Florida held a walk out on Monday August 23rd to protest the latest COVID-19 surge, which has been exacerbated by the large number of people refusing to get the vaccine and follow masking guidelines.
Other health care workers are writing about their frustrations online. “We are all still exhausted. Levels of unhappiness among staff are high; I know several consultants who have gone off work with stress and many others who are receiving treatment for mental illness. Planning childcare is a nightmare on the shifting sands of unexpected isolations in children and their caregivers, and this increases the strain,” said an NHS respiratory consultant in a recent article on the latest pandemic surge.
Dr. Mark Lewis (@marklewismd), the Director of GI Oncology at Intermountain Health, tweeted frustrations over the hate aimed at health care professionals that just want to help people. He is not alone, as many in the comments shared similar stories.
For health care workers that directly care for COVID-19 patients, they are getting to a point they never thought they would reach in their careers. “Staff are saying, 'I don’t even have compassion any more,'” said Schulz, a nurse who manages the ICU at a hospital in Bend, OR. “I want to have compassion, but it’s hard when people are making choices that are causing them to die. How can I give my heart when they don’t seem to care? It's very challenging. They put their game faces on when they show up at the door, but conversations in the break room and outside of work are heart-wrenching."
-By Tristan Dooley