CDC: Burnout, harassment driving mental health crisis among health care workers

The New York Times (10/24, Weiland) reports, “Health workers feel burnout more frequently than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic, while also struggling with symptoms of anxiety and depression, sleep problems and harassment, according to a federal survey of American workers published on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The result “compared data from 2018 and 2022 and underscored a dire staffing crisis in the nation’s health work force, which limped through the pandemic amid long hours, high turnover, violence in emergency departments and public vitriol over vaccines, masks and treatments.”

The Hill (10/24, Weixel) says the report found that, “overall, about 46% of health care workers reported feeling burnout often or very often in 2022, compared with 32% in 2018.” Almost “half of those in the field also reported they were likely or very likely to apply for a new job – in contrast to other worker groups who reported a decrease in job turnover intention.”

Healio (10/24, Rhoades) reports, “Harassment at work also rose from 6.4% to 13.4% from 2018 to 2022, and was linked to increased odds of: anxiety,” depression, and burnout.

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— “Why Health Care Workers Are Burning Out,”Noah Weiland, The New York Times, October 24, 2023

Posted in In The News.