Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mental Health Care Is Becoming More Urgent For Front-Line Medical Workers, Hospital Directors Say
Even as they battle a virus that has claimed more than 90,000 lives in the U.S., hospitals are scrambling to address another onslaught: a mental-health crisis in their ranks. As the Covid-19 pandemic grinds on into its third month, many doctors and nurses on the front lines say they are physically and emotionally drained. The psychological burdens are felt across the spectrum of hospital staff, from specialists being rerouted to Covid-19 care, to emergency-medicine workers dealing with low stocks of protective gear and the recurring loss of patients who are forced to die alone. (Chen, 5/21)
When Crystal Holloway entered the room on the 14th floor of Northwestern Memorial Hospital to introduce herself to a new patient, Tanya Adell-O’Neal was so out of breath, Holloway remembered, she could barely speak. But she got out a few crucial words: “I have to tell you,” Holloway, an ICU nurse, remembered Adell-O’Neal saying. “I’m a nurse myself.”“I was like, ‘Oh, God …’” Holloway recalled. “Like, ‘I hope that she’s not critiquing me … critiquing my techniques.’ That was absolutely the first thing I thought.” (Jaffe, 5/22)
Two studies published today in JAMA Network Open reveal a 1% COVID-19 infection rate in healthcare workers (HCWs) in hospitals in the southern Netherlands and Wuhan, China, but with higher rates in HCWs who reported no exposure to COVID-19 patients. The first study, involving 9,705 HCWs screened at two teaching hospitals in Breda and Tilburg, the Netherlands, identified 1,353 who reported fever or respiratory symptoms. Of those workers, 86 (6.4%) tested positive for the novel coronavirus, representing 0.9% of all HCWs. Only 3 (3.5%) reported exposure to a patient who tested positive for COVID-19. (Van Beusekom, 5/21)
