Fighting fear in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Published in: Infection control and hospital epidemiology Vol. 41; no. 10; pp. 1192 - 1193
• Main Authors: Cawcutt, Kelly A, Starlin, Richard, Rupp, Mark E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cambridge University Press 01-10-2020
• Subjects: Betacoronavirus; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease transmission; Epidemics; Evidence-based practice; Fear; Fear & phobias; Health care; Health Personnel; Humans; Infections; Medical personnel; Nursing; Pandemics; Personal protective equipment; Pneumonia, Viral; Prevention; Protective equipment; Risk taking; SARS-CoV-2; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
• ISSN: 0899-823X; 1559-6834
• DOI: 10.1017/ice.2020.315

Healthcare resources that are scarce include tests for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), personal protective equipment (PPE), hospital equipment (ventilators), hospital capacity, and healthcare workers (HCWs), particularly those trained to care for the critically ill. The risk of acquiring infection is innate to health care; it always has been and, for the foreseeable future, will continue to be. [...]effective infection prevention practices are paramount to both ensuring safety and combatting fear. Fear is a negative emotion resulting in avoidance of specific stimuli based on perceived risk.3 In many situations, fear may be an appropriate reaction and can result in a decrease in engagement in at-risk behavior or greater adherence to mitigation strategies such as social distancing and handwashing.3 Unfortunately, fear has also been associated with maladaptive behaviors including overburdening of scarce resources (eg, demanding testing or medical attention when not needed), hoarding of precious supplies (eg, PPE), and failure to report for duty.3 Ho et al1 noted that fear in healthcare workers during SARS was significant.