COVID-19 has formed a significant impact globally. The harmful effect includes high infection rate, death rate, the financial crisis faced by each individual as well as the economy. And, all these effects are growing continuously.
Consistently increasing numbers of cases are creating various challenges for the heart of the unparalleled crisis of COVID-19, i.e., the health workers. They have the pressure of many things like treating patients, diminishing the infection rate, developing short-term and long-term strategies.
Besides all the above things, the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the health worker physically and mentally. The reason is, healthcare workers are working unstoppably under stressful conditions without having enough protective equipment.
And here we come with the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers.
Got Infected
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported, 1 healthcare worker out of 10 is infected with the COVID-19 virus. This is because they continuously connect with COVID-19 patients. Thus, the risk of getting an infection becomes higher.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over half of U.S. healthcare workers infected with the new coronavirus likely contracted it via contact with an infected patient or coworker.
Whereas, a current report shows that more than 60,000 healthcare workers in America are infected with COVID-19.
Death
Many countries have declared the death of nurses and doctors due to the COVID-19 virus. As per the report, more than 7,000 healthcare workers died due to coronavirus infection worldwide.
After many months of the pandemic, healthcare workers are still losing their life, especially in countries like Mexico, Brazil, and America. Continuously amplifying the death rate of healthcare workers is a red signal for the countries.
Apart from COVID-19’s infection, many healthcare workers attempted suicide due to unsustainable stress at work.
Emotional Impact
Reports from various countries show that healthcare workers who care for COVID-19 patients suffering from anxiety, depression, and stress—healthcare workers facing family conflict due to the high demand for work. Consequently, this builds stress inside them. In one survey, 29.8% of healthcare workers reported stress, 24.1% reported anxiety, and 13.5% reported depression.
Even they have reported being anxious about having self-isolated and quarantined. For healthcare workers, quarantine means cutting off the connection with family and not reporting to work.
Moreover, by seeing the condition of patients, healthcare workers are at risk of developing trauma. Trauma about being ill and about their future condition and health.
Violence against the Healthcare Workers
After the outbreak of COVID-19, the workload of healthcare workers has risen. During this tough time, instead of appreciating them, many people commit violent crimes against them, such as assault. As a result, hospitals and governments are taking strict action for their safety.
61.9% of the healthcare workers reported exposure to any form of workplace violence, 42.5% reported exposure to non-physical violence, and 24.4% experienced physical violence in the past year. Verbal abuse (57.6%) was the most common form of non-physical violence, followed by threats (33.2%) and sexual harassment (12.4%).
Final Thought about COVID-19 Impact on Healthcare Worker
The impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers is a little bit horrible and unavoidable.
For the safety of healthcare workers, WHO provided the following step:
Training healthcare workers to identify respiratory diseases
Providing increased access to personal protective equipment
Providing psychological support to health workers
Routinely conducting hospital surveillance
Recognizing that every healthcare system can have gaps
Provide the continued quality of care to the healthcare workers. Also, encourage and empower them.
