INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that between 2018 and 2022, the number of health care workers who felt burnt out on the job increased from 32% to 46%.
The Indiana Hospital Association has been working on this issue since before the pandemic. Laurie Gelt, IHA quality and safety advisor, said the symptoms of overwork are wide-ranging.
“Emotional exhaustion, less efficiency, not being as good at your job as usual, just kind of off the mark. Detachment, just disconnected from your work, your patients, your teammates,” Gert said.
The CDC launched a program called “Impact Wellbeing” to provide hospitals with guidelines on how to support overworked employees.
One of the recommendations asks administrators to alleviate concerns among medical professionals that sharing mental health concerns could lead to denial of certain licenses or certifications. The Indiana Hospital Association launched its own initiative in January called the “Safe and Sound” campaign.
“We have information from 34 hospitals and over 13,000 respondents. Approximately 64% of respondents said they had at least one symptom of burnout,” Gert said. I did.
Indiana health care providers also spoke about the impact of patient deaths and violent incidents in emergency rooms.
“When we talk about shift work and long hours and managing electronic health records, it’s not an individual’s experience of burnout; it’s the organizational and environmental culture that can cause burnout,” Gerdt said.
The Indiana Hospital Association advises healthcare providers to market and promote internal programs that help address mental health issues among employees.