Experts: COVID-19 Pandemic Severely Impacts Mental Health Of Frontline Medical Workers

From ABC News, February 16, 2021

Click HERE to read the full article. Below are a collection of excerpts from the article.

Experts say some doctors, nurses and other health workers on the frontlines will have to face a mental health reckoning after being in the trenches fighting the global pandemic.

...

Health care professionals like Copely and Robinson have forged forward amid unparalleled obstacles as they've fought to save lives. Too often over the last year, they've been the bridge in heart-wrenching moments when families are forced to say goodbye to loved ones -- sometimes over the phone.

...

Dr. Susan R. Bailey, president of the American Medical Association, told ABC News in a statement: “Acute stress among physicians, which was already significant before the pandemic, has increased dramatically for many physicians during the last several months as the pandemic has brought new challenges and exceptional demands.”

...

Prior to the pandemic, an estimated 300 to 400 physicians died by suicide annually, which equates to one physician per day, according to research presented at the 2018 American Psychiatric Association meeting.

At this time, experts say there is still not enough data to assess the psychological toll COVID-19 has had on physicians in the past year.“It was very clear that physicians did not know how to reassure themselves or take care of their mental health,” Mona Masood, D.O., an outpatient psychiatrist working in Philadelphia, told ABC News.

In March, 2020, Masood created the Physician Support Line, a free, confidential service to give doctors a mental health outlet during the pandemic. To date, Masood said a team of 700 volunteer psychiatrists has already provided support to more than 2,000 physicians and medical students.

“For me, as a psychiatrist, it became the writing on the wall that if we are not able to keep our heads above water, how are we going to be able to take care of the many people that would eventually need us," Masood said.

...

“Almost every call into the physician support line starts with an apology and that should speak to how it is received that there is an inherent reluctance among physicians to admit they’re struggling and to seek help for that struggle," she said.

Masood also says anonymity helps protect physicians from potential professional repercussions. “I knew that if anyone was going to be using the Physician’s Support Line

...

"It had to be made clear that this was not going to be reported to any systemic entity,” she said.