Stress No More! Prioritizing the Healthcare Workers’ Pleas for Their Health and Safety

Dear Editor,

In a recent article published in this journal (Williams-Southers, 2023), the author assessed the utilization of a workplace relaxation room to reduce occupational stress. This room contained stress-reducing items for staff to utilize while at work. The findings revealed that the participants’ responses to the open-ended questions indicated a positive workplace impact. I firmly support the provision of stress-reducing spaces, but long work hours need additional strategies to effectively address stress (Jacques et al., 2018). We learned, for example, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that healthcare workers experienced a high level of stress and anxiety, and even depression due to many things, one of which was the lack of relaxation time between and during their work shifts (Motahedi et al., 2021). I, too, propose additional interventions for our healthcare workers to address this issue.

During the pandemic, however, understaffing was one of the most severe problems in many healthcare facilities in my country, the Philippines (Alibudbud, 2023a). Nurses were forced to handle 20 to 50 patients per shift, and they worked for up to 16 hours per day with only one day of rest in a week, sometimes no days off if the situation did not permit. The nurse-to-patient ratio set by the Department of Health (DOH) is one nurse to 12 patients per duty in the general ward. What adds to this pitiful situation is that they are underpaid, and some do not receive the benefits they deserve. They even lack adequate protection like personal protective equipment (PPE) (Cabico, 2023). As hospital nurses must provide patient care around the clock, shift work and long work hours can result in short sleep duration and sleep disturbances. With this, it can increase the risk of reduced performance on the job, obesity, injuries, and a wide range of chronic diseases. In addition, fatigue-related errors could harm patients. Fatigued nurses also endanger others during their commute to and from work (Caruso, 2014). In a survey conducted of more than 9,500 nurses in the United States during the pandemic, over 34% of nurses rated their emotional health as not, or not at all, healthy. Most nurses surveyed said they felt stressed (75%), frustrated (69%), and overwhelmed (62%). Close to half (42%) of nurse respondents answered “yes,” when asked if they have had an extremely stressful, disturbing, or traumatic experience due to COVID-19. Among nurses who said they intend to leave their position in the next 6 months, close to half cited work negatively affecting their health and well-being (48%) as a top reason, followed closely by insufficient staffing (41%) (American Nurses Foundation, 2021).

Aside from establishing relaxation rooms in the workplace, what can also help our healthcare workers reduce their stress and anxiety is to provide, enable, and empower them to engage in self-care practices. It can be done by providing higher pay and timely benefits, avoiding hospital understaffing, and making available training programs for various self-care practices (Alibudbud, 2023b). The hospital administrators can provide these self-care programs through the availability of counseling and mental health services, health breaks or short vacations, physical and spiritual exercises like yoga, meditations, recollections, and retreats, and finally, the establishment of clear boundaries between family and work time. If these essential needs are provided, a greater possibility of achieving health and well-being for our “modern heroes” will be within reach. This prioritization of our human resources can be the best weapon in facing future health crises and challenges.