Topline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking to tackle a brewing healthcare worker mental health crisis by introducing a new initiative aimed at helping doctors and nurses deal with burnout, which affected nearly half of the workforce in 2022.
Key Facts
The crisis was at an all-time high during the Covid pandemic: 93% of health workers reported feeling stressed between June and September 2020, 86% experienced anxiety and 76% reported burnout, according to a report by advocacy and research group Mental Health America.
Although the Covid pandemic—which forced hospitals to deal with years of intermittent staff shortages and massive volumes of sick patients—“intensified existing risks and workloads,” the burnout problem preceded the pandemic and remains years after, the CDC said in an October study.
Nearly 50% of healthcare workers experienced burnout in 2022, compared to 32% in 2018, and the percentage of workers who reported harassment on the job more than doubled to 13.4% over that period, with health employees who faced harassment dealing with higher rates of burnout and anxiety than their peers, according to the CDC study.
The CDC study also found healthcare workers experience worse mental health outcomes than employees in other industries, and 44% of healthcare workers intended to look for new jobs in 2022—up from 33% in 2018—even as the percentage of all other workers who intended to look for a new job decreased.
Healthcare workers faced higher suicide rates than non-healthcare workers, with healthcare support workers (21.4%) and registered nurses (16%) experiencing the highest rates, a September study published in JAMA reports.
Healthcare workers have been experiencing mental health issues for years: A separate JAMA study found between 1963 and 2015, 20% of U.S. doctors experienced depression.
News Peg
The new CDC program announced Tuesday to help curb burnout is called Impact Wellbeing. The program includes a questionnaire meant to collect information on health workers’ wellbeing, a guide that helps leaders talk about mental health care and strategies for supervisors to balance their employees’ work and home lives. The new program stems from a 2022 federal law named after a doctor who died by suicide in 2020.
Surprising Fact
Around four in 10 doctors are either afraid or know someone who’s afraid to seek mental health care because of how it’d affect their answers to questions on hospital credentialing applications, so Impact Wellbeing encourages hospitals to remove “intrusive” mental health questions on applications. Several organizations like the American Medical Association have called on medical licensing programs to do away with questions that may deter workers from seeking help for mental health or substance abuse.
Tangent
Kaiser Permanente—one of the nation’s largest healthcare organizations—reached tentative deals with over 11 unions last month, ending the largest healthcare worker strike in U.S. history, but two unions are still on strike. Kaiser pharmacy workers have been on strike since October 23, and plans to continue the strike until November 18. Over 500 imaging workers at five Kaiser locations in Oregon and Washington joined the picket line on Wednesday, which is set to last until November 18 also, according to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, the workers’ union. Kaiser told Forbes it was “disappointed that UFCW Local 555 for Imaging, which represents about 560 Kaiser Permanente Northwest employees, is choosing to strike.”
Further Reading
Kaiser Permanente Health Workers Reach Tentative Deal—Ending Largest Healthcare Walkout In U.S. History (Forbes)
Over 75,000 Kaiser Permanente Health Workers Begin Striking—Biggest Healthcare Walkout In U.S. History (Forbes)
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741.