The power of connectedness and support is important for anyone during times of crisis, and is crucial for our healthcare professionals during this unprecedented time in our history. Healthcare professionals face significant challenges including:
- Treating and caring for large numbers of ill patients on the frontline
- Experiencing death, pain, sorrow, or severe illness of others on each shift
- Not having the appropriate quantity or quality of personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Deficient staff-to-patient ratios on a consistent basis
- Experiencing time-sensitive challenges
- Lacking sleep due to 12, 16, and, at times, 24-hour shifts
- Not being able to return home due to exposure
- Experiencing anxiety surrounding exposure to self, family, colleagues, and friends
- Developing a “marathon” perception of “when is this going to end?”
One survey of 1,257 physicians and nurses during the height of the pandemic found that approximately 50 percent reported symptoms of depression, 44 percent reported symptoms of anxiety, and 34 percent reported insomnia. Further compounding these stressors, many healthcare workers face stigma challenges that surround seeking help and they may not even have appropriate access to a professional who can understand, relate, or offer sound suggestions and support. As a result of these issues, our healthcare professionals are often left feeling overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, helpless, and hopeless.
Healthcare administrators can help support their most valuable assets, the healthcare professionals, by developing a peer support policy or standard operating procedure (SOP). Peer support are specially trained healthcare workers who are uniquely qualified to support their peers because they are familiar with the shared culture, work environment, common experiences and key challenges shared across the profession, in addition to the stressors and pressures associated with the work. Properly vetted and trained peer support who possess empathy, and display competence in behavioral health principles (active listening, key support, and behavioral health resources for those that would warrant such services beyond the scope of general peer support), are of paramount importance.
In summary, consideration for peer support trained in behavioral health principles is a significant opportunity to explore and foster stronger wellness programs for healthcare professionals. Peer support who are healthcare professionals themselves, either “in-house” and/or external healthcare professionals (not from the same medical organization/agency/hospital), are important resources to help manage many variables simultaneously and sequentially during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
References
“Frontline Trauma” in Scientific American 322, 6, 36-37 (June 2020) doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0 620-36
Mock, Jillian (for June 1, 2020) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/psychological-trauma-is-the-next-crisis-for-coronavirus-health-workers1/
About Dr. Robert J. Cipriano Jr., Psy.D., ABPP
Dr. Cipriano has been working with the community professionally within the field of psychology for 28 years. He is a member of the Cordico Advisory Board and also provides EAP services for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) agents and civilians (both sworn and non-sworn) in managing an array of critical incidents. Dr. Cipriano is a Florida & North Carolina Licensed Psychologist, he is board certified in Police and Public Safety Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), and for the past decade had also worked as a Police Psychologist for Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD). In that role he served as a consultant for the Special Response Team (SRT -also known as SWAT) and provided expert training and developed strategies for effectively working with and understanding the “criminal mind.” He assisted the team in gaining insight and managing individuals who suffered from severe mental illness and who were in crisis. Additionally, he provided critical support to the crisis negotiation team when they were faced with crisis situations, hostages, career criminals, and barricaded subjects who posed a threat for police and the community at large. He has provided therapeutic and as needed clinical services to both the Trauma-Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and inpatient behavioral health units at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center (AHMC) and has provided critical incident stress debriefings (CISD) for a variety of staff at AHMC. Dr. Cipriano has handled well over a 200 CISDs’ in his professional career and was recently called upon to assist Jet Blue Airlines following a critical incident involving a gunman killing five civilians and injuring numerous others at Ft. Lauderdale International Airport in Ft. Lauderdale, FL which gained international attention. He has also assisted in aiding victims of the school shooting in Parkland, FL, their families, and first responders affected by & connected to the critical incident.
Dr. Cipriano’s area of specialization includes utilizing his clinical skills operationally to target the spectrum of trauma and violence in the field. Such experience entails educating police, the military veteran, and the civilian population on the psychological effects from trauma as well as understanding and managing aspects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-recognizing signs and symptoms of the disorder, how it manifests, and how to work and interact with those who may suffer from it.
Dr. Cipriano also offers expert training in understanding the psychological dynamics and warning signs of active shooters, school shooters, school place violence, and bully behavior. Dr. Cipriano has a strong interest in this area and has developed a clinical curriculum to target, intervene, and potentially prevent such acts along this specific spectrum of aggression. His knowledge, experience, and expertise will benefit clinicians, educational institutions, administrators, public safety professionals, and the private sector on a local, state, and national level.
About Cordico
Cordico is the world leader in wellness technology for high-stress professions, serving hundreds of organizations. Cordico helps identify people for critical roles, accelerate leadership, and strengthen workforce engagement, safety, and wellness. Our trusted wellness solutions provide confidential, in-hand, on-demand 24/7 access to the best available wellness support for people working in the most demanding and high-stress professions.
Media contact:
Kevin Dacy
Phone: 844-CORDICO (1-844-267-3426)
