Medical personnel are stressed out at the best of times, but given the intense pressure placed on them this year by the coronavirus outbreak, this has only worsened.  New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst highlights how this stress affects the quality of care staff are able to give their patients.

The staff, from eight hospitals across the north-east of the United States, reported a wide range of emotions that were triggered by their experience with patients, the resources the hospital made available to them, and various societal factors.  It’s a situation only exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“ER providers are on the front line of this pandemic, and stress, anxiety and anger are increasing,” the researchers say. “As we all face anxiety about the fallout of this pandemic, anger about a healthcare system that was already stretched thin and under-resourced is likely to grow. It is important to be mindful that these emotions might impact patient care.”

Emotional focus

The researchers believe their work highlights the need for greater training on emotional intelligence in the medical field, with a corresponding shift in the culture to promote more meaningful discussions about the emotions of staff.

The analysis revealed that patients would often spark both positive and negative emotions.  When speaking about hospital and societal issues, however, feelings were overwhelmingly negative.  Issues such as overcrowding/understaffing and limited resources elicited overwhelming negative responses from both doctors and nurses.

“These physicians care deeply about their patients. They’re working in a health care system that makes it really hard for them to practice the way they envisioned,” the researchers say. “They are asked to handle and solve problems that are incredibly trivial or incredibly serious, and some aren’t even medical problems. There is awareness that emotions could influence what they do with the patients, even when the caregivers aren’t consciously in touch with their feelings.”

To cope, staff reveal that they often suppress or try to ignore their emotions at work, which allows them to perform reasonably effectively at that particular time, but it does tend to come back to bite them later on.  For instance, they may take it out on their family when they return home.  It’s also a bad strategy for both physical and mental wellbeing.

What’s more, the researchers also believe it can harm the patients themselves, as it’s far from clear whether these regulating strategies help improve patient safety.

“Obviously, we need system-wide health care reform, more staffing and more community services for vulnerable populations,” the researchers say. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”