Government attempts to address burnout among healthcare workers

Indianapolis, Indiana – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2018 and 2022, the percentage of healthcare professionals who reported feeling burned out at work rose from 32% to 46%.

Prior to the pandemic, the Indiana Hospital Association was tackling this issue. According to Laurie Gerdt, an IHA Quality and Safety Advisor, the signs of being overworked are varied.

“Emotional exhaustion, lower efficacy, you’re not doing your job as well as you usually did, you’re kind of hitting the mark. Detachment, you’re just disengaged from your work, from your patients from your teammates,” said Gerdt.

Hospitals can get instructions from the CDC’s “Impact Wellbeing” initiative on how to support overworked staff members.

Administrators are urged in one of the proposals to allay worries held by medical professionals that disclosing their mental health issues may result in the denial of certain licenses or credentials. The “Safe and Sound” campaign was the brainchild of the Indiana Hospital Association, which started it all in January.

“We have 34 hospitals information, over 13,000 respondents, and we are looking at about a 64% report of respondents saying that they have at least one symptom of burnout,” said Gerdt.

Healthcare professionals in Indiana also discussed how violent incidents and patient deaths in emergency rooms have affected them.

“When you talk about shift work and long hours and managing electronic medical records, that’s not an individual experience of burnout. That’s an organization and environmental culture that can breed burnout,” said Gerdt.

Healthcare providers are advised by the Indiana Hospital Association to advertise and publicize internal initiatives that workers can participate in to support their mental health.