New survey data published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vital Signs report highlights a distressing trend: U.S. health care workers are experiencing more than double the rate of workplace harassment compared to pre-pandemic times.
The findings, as reported, indicate that in 2022, 13.4% of health workers reported experiencing workplace harassment, a notable increase from the 6.4% reported in 2018. The report defines harassment as encompassing “threats, bullying, verbal abuse, or other actions from patients and coworkers that create a hostile work environment.”
Furthermore, the survey unveiled a concerning correlation: health care workers who reported being harassed were more likely to experience anxiety, depression, and burnout compared to those who were not subjected to harassment.
The challenges of understaffing also played a pivotal role in contributing to health workers’ deteriorating mental health. The survey showed that from 2018 to 2022, a larger proportion of health workers (32% as opposed to 25.7%) reported that there were frequently insufficient staff members at their workplace.
The report elucidates, “Health workers who reported that there were not enough staff members had 1.91 times the odds of reporting symptoms of anxiety and 2.73 times the odds of reporting burnout compared with those who did not report staffing shortages.”
Conversely, positive working conditions, including trust in management and supervisor support, were linked to reduced odds of burnout and mental health issues.
In light of these findings, the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has launched the Impact Wellbeing campaign, aimed at providing resources to employers to support the mental health of healthcare workers in the field.
The problem of burnout within the healthcare industry is not a new one, predating the COVID-19 pandemic, but exacerbated by the upheaval brought on by the pandemic. Physician suicide rates, partly attributable to burnout, have been a long-standing concern.
The current U.S. healthcare landscape grapples with an unprecedented shortage of nurses, which further contributes to burnout and low morale. As per reports, more than 200,000 new registered nurses are required annually until 2030 to meet the demand.
Caitlyn Hall, a nurse at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., underscored the challenges faced by healthcare workers, stating, “I think people are really exhausted. We’ve been relying on a lot of overtime these last few years to really fill kind of the holes on the unit.”
