This morning the New York Times reported the suicide death of a prominent ER doctor. (See Here) Sadly, her death may have been influenced by the recent COVID pandemic but it is also very likely that her death is the tip of the iceberg of the internal trauma being experienced by so many healthcare professionals. In fact, last year the American College of Emergency Physicians called out the increasing number of ER professionals experiencing PTSD symptoms. (See Here). The current pandemic will only exacerbate this struggle. So how do we help? How do we protect those who are on the front lines of this fight because this will not be our last fight against coronavirus nor will it be the last time we will have to cope with a nationwide public health emergency?
PTSD has become a large scale disorder in America mainly because of our returning combat veterans and their exposure to the horrors of prolonged combat and the death of those close to them. Sadly, it was often ignored in combat veterans and it really wasn’t until the last 25-30 years that the military establishment started treating it as a real problem. We have seen similar PTSD cases among our police community and paramedics. We are now faced with another subset of our population that is experiencing this challenge to their mental and emotional health. Can we learn from our past mistakes and come to the aid of those who have given so much for us? The American Association of Medical Colleges offered some advice for healthcare professionals and their employers – ideas like hiring a Chief Wellness Officer or developing peer-support programs. (See Here) Johns Hopkins has even developed a program called RISE: Resilience in Stressful Events – an emotional peer support structure that supports second victims who were emotionally impacted by a stressful patient-related event or unanticipated adverse event (See Here) We all play a role – stay connected with your healthcare family members and support them. Help them find assistance when necessary so that we can make every effort to blunt the traumas being faced by our healthcare heroes.