Medical centers should support healthcare workers with COVID-19 infection, experts say

By mid-November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had reported that 218,439 health care workers in the U.S. had been infected with COVID-19 – a possible estimate of due to incomplete data from states. Approximately 3% to 4% of health care workers who survive coronavirus infection are expected to become “COVID long-term carriers” while dealing with debilitating symptoms 12 to 18 months after the gloomy stage of the disease has cleared.

“As COVID-19 complies again, hospitals are facing a shortage of skilled face providers who can meet the relentless demands of caring for these patients,” says Zeina N. Chemali, MD , MPH, psychologist and neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and senior author of an article in Lancet respiratory medicine on the challenges faced by health care workers who are longing for COVID.

“Providers struggling with post-COVID problems will put more pressure on the health care system if medical centers do not step up to support those who have donated their health during the period. pandemic. ”Chemali runs MGH’s McCance Center for Brain Health and the neuropsychiatry clinic, which treats COVID survivors with lingering symptoms.

Long-term complications of COVID can affect several organs in the body. Some people suffer from neuropsychiatric complaints, such as obesity, brain fog, persistent headaches, sleep changes, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and difficulty concentrating.

They may also have cardiopulmonary symptoms – fatigue after exercise, shortness of breath, persistent cough, cardiac arrhythmias, fluctuating blood pressure and fainting. There are currently no therapeutic treatments for post-COVID syndromes; treatment focused on symptom reduction and treatment strategies. Long-term complications of COVID can occur even in mild cases of the virus.

Chemali and her colleagues urge medical centers to support and encourage safe return to work for all health care workers who are disabled from lingering symptoms of COVID. The national guidance on return to work focuses specifically on the infectious status of health care workers, leaving establishments to establish their own policies or to select medical leave or disability workers.

While some institutions have given health care workers a place while they return to work after COVID, the measures may not apply to all employees. impact, exacerbates existing social inequalities. In addition, the culture of treatment enhances responsibility for patients beyond personal needs, leaving behind the well-being of staff.

The authors suggest that multidisciplinary teams at medical centers will be tasked with devising return-to-work strategies for health care workers with long-term COVID symptoms. These strategies could include gradual integration into the work team, restricting movements so as not to disrupt natural circadian rhythms, ordering disruption. frequent and reduce workloads to prevent fat, and partner with other providers to provide oversight during complex tasks and share clinical responsibilities.

In addition, the authors plead for Congress to address the health issues and needs of long-term health care providers and for the Biden administration to create new funding to support health care providers. health care workers as they recover from COVID. Previous U.S. government initiatives, such as the Coronavirus Support, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, provided financial support to medical practices and hospitals struggling with the pandemic, but failed to essential hospital staff who were disabled by the virus benefited separately from the funding. , said Chemali.

Medical institutions and society have a moral obligation to support COVID war veterans of health care, says Chemali, who studies mental health and brain disorders among refugees and in people living in war zones .

Whether face caregivers care for people in war zones or in hospitals full of COVID patients, they work in dangerous, uncertain and stressful environments. Yet they continue to fulfill the mission despite being overworked and burned out, reducing their flexibility and possibly their immunity to the virus itself. We need to do better with healthcare workers who become ill with COVID. If we do not help COVID survivors to recover and return to work as providers, there is a risk that institutions will lose even more of their skilled workforce, which will carry the fatigue and stress that comes with the COVID tsunami without stopping this. “

Zeina N. Chemali, MD, MPH, Lead Author, Psychologist, Neurologist, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)