5 Ways on How to Protect Healthcare Workers
The COVID-19 pandemic put our health systems and preparedness to the test with a strikingly urgent need for healthcare throughout hospitals, clinics, home care, and other healthcare facilities. Especially for healthcare workers, the demand for health services was overwhelming given the lack of proper protective gear, workforce shortage, insufficient training, and overworking. The high demand resulted in extremely stressful work environments that impacted the health and safety of healthcare workers everywhere. Based on insight from the pandemic, it is evident that setting a few guidelines that emphasize healthcare safety and disease prevention will help not only protect our healthcare providers but also ensure an enhanced health system and better preparedness against any future pandemics.
Prepare
Even with the numerous warnings and repeated emphasis on the possibility of a future health crisis, the preparations were clearly not enough. Health services around the world were overwhelmed with the critical opposition brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the insight from the pandemic, healthcare should be reworked to handle any possible similar scenarios in the future as well as any more severe ones. Everything from upgrading the healthcare buildings, facilities, and communities should prove to be sound investments in the future. Also, the health system should emphasize practices regarding the prevention of health issues.
Prioritize Healthcare Safety
Safety is undeniably a top priority, but throughout the pandemic, many healthcare providers lacked the appropriate amount of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which put them at major risk along with the infected. Healthcare safety is an effective preventive measure during an outbreak and should be a high priority matched with high standards and protocols. Providing healthcare workers with sufficient protective gear will not only help protect them against infection but also help reduce the risk of spreading the virus, which is vital during a pandemic. Healthcare workers should be provided with sufficient Personal Protective Equipment including protective helmets, gloves, clothing, face shields, tyvek suits, facemasks, goggles, and other related equipment. In fact, a sizable fraction of the infections were traced among front-liners and health care providers. Clearly, the healthcare facilities were lacking in safety, and it greatly impacted both the healthcare workers and their patients.
Reinforce the Healthcare Workforce
Every health department around the world faced a similar issue of a shortage in healthcare workers. Reinforcing the healthcare workforce by increasing their numbers and efficiency can be done through enhanced training and empowerment. This will develop and grow the healthcare workforce into being better prepared and responsive to any possible health crises in the future.
Give Emphasis on Healthcare Workers’ Mental Health
During the pandemic, healthcare workers were overwhelmed simply because they were overworked, underpaid, and greatly outnumbered by patients while also putting their lives at risk through it all. This amount of stress is sure to negatively impact their psychological health in some way, and possibly affect their work efficiency. Healthcare providers around the world expressed similar feelings of depression, stress, and anxiety, which can only get worse when ignored.
Improve Health Data Systems
Accurate and complete health data is vital for healthcare services since it helps them determine the best course of action and response. Throughout the pandemic, health data lacked comprehensive details and were generally disorganized, which led to inefficient response times and a pileup of patients. Notably in inadequate facilities, the poor data system only worsened and overwhelmed their healthcare services.
Conclusion
Healthcare workers play a vital role in providing crucial health services for everyone and should be given more opportunities to further develop them into more capable and prepared professionals. As insight from the pandemic, our healthcare systems need to improve, and it must all start with healthcare workers’ safety as the top priority.
