We can all agree: Working in healthcare is hard right now. A lot of the things we usually do to de-stress just aren’t working.
Though cases of COVID-19 have been falling, that doesn’t mean the stress caused by the recent surge immediately goes away. The pandemic still causes a sense of uncertainty. Healthcare workers have been called heroes and have been endlessly thanked by world leaders and the community, but it may not be what you need to hear right now.
Instead, we asked team members across UW Medicine to share their experiences, how they’re coping and what they need: from each other, from their communities and from all of us. We hope their insights provide comfort, a sense that we are still all in this together and reassurance that you aren’t alone.
What our team has to say
Ashley Brown, BSN, RN, CNRN, CCRN, ICU nurse at Harborview
What is your experience right now?
How are you coping?
What do you need right now?
Nancy Colobong Smith, MN, ARNP, CNN, Renal and Transplant Clinical Nurse Specialist, UW Medical Center – Montlake
What is your experience right now?
Words are hard. In 2020, “unprecedented” and “abundance of caution” topped the list. Right now, the experience is exhausted and on edge. As a clinical nurse specialist, my work is focused on healthcare systems. Currently coordination and planning are a challenge on all levels. It seems like as one issue is resolved (staff, supplies, space) then another comes up. Previously I knew that issues were transient and that our team could make things work until the situation resolved. With COVID-19, the waves keep coming and there are no guarantees about when it may end.
How are you coping?
I am trying to be aware of things that are possible triggers, and to take a breath or pause before responding to requests. I am trying to find something every day to be grateful for or that is beautiful. When walking to and from my car, I look up. Lately, I have seen two eagles perched in the trees by the stadium or a heron on the lake. It makes me smile. I usually cope by writing in my journal, drawing, knitting or crafts. Usually keeping my hands busy helps but it is getting harder to focus.
What do you need right now?
Even though we need to be really careful due to omicron, I need to feel connected to my community in some way. I am trying to reach out to others via text, email and video chat to make sure that everyone is hanging in there. I need to share stories and laughter. There are some really challenging and unusual things going on. It would be great to have that moment to connect with others, share experiences, know that none of us are alone and that we will get to the next phase.
I also need grace — both for others and myself. Everything feels hard but the more grace I give to others, the more I feel able to accept it myself. Grace allows me to come to terms with what is and what is not in my control.
Sachita Shah, MD, Emergency Medicine Physician at Harborview
What is your experience right now?
While we are trained for mass casualty and dealing with surges, I think one of the main issues we are facing right now that makes it different from any other point in the pandemic is that we are having severe staff shortages at the same time as bed shortages. The hospitals all over the country, not just in our system, are struggling with overcrowding but now we have even less nurses, doctors, medical assistance, pharmacy staff and radiology staff to take care of these patients.
At Harborview, because we are a referral center for all of the trauma patients in a five-state region, we are always bustling, but so many of the patients transferred and so many coming in from our own city incidentally have COVID-19. Our colleagues are calling out and despite us all wearing the best personal protective equipment (PPE) available, people are still getting infected. I usually do global health but haven’t been to any remote settings to provide healthcare in two years now so it’s a real shift from my usual field of focus.
The great news is that the vaccines with boosts still provide great protection against severe illness. We are a very vaxxed city so even though our case counts will rise, people are trying to stay safe at least locally. And I’ve been able to pivot a bit in my academic interest to focus on local, underserved communities and tele-education to keep from getting too discouraged.
How are you coping?
I just got diagnosed with a breakthrough infection last week, and honestly the fatigue from COVID allowed for the best sleep of my life! Allowing myself rest when I need it is kind of a new thing for me.
I’m taking it day by day mostly and trying to ask myself, “What did I do to nourish myself as a human being today?” Spending lots of time playing board games and playing imagination games with my daughters to try to get out of my own head, and LOTS of talking to friends and yoga. I stopped taking my phone on my dog walks and am just trying to forget about everything and practice mindfulness at multiple points each day, but it’s pretty difficult to feel like we have the ability anymore to truly unwind and decompress between shifts. I taught a group of really awesome physicians who work in remote parts of Lesotho how to use ultrasound in a series of online live trainings, so I felt connected to global health and that felt really good to me.
What do you need right now?
Well, for the surge to die down, more homeless shelters with private areas so COVID-19 doesn’t just rip through, global vaccination equity, a non-broken healthcare system in America and around the world, a stronger public education system and mandatory basic science and health education for legislators would be an awesome start. But I would settle for a mass interest in the field of medicine and nursing, because I think there is going to be real needs in the future to replace all the providers around the world who have left the field or gotten sick and can’t practice anymore after this pandemic.
Amy E. Haverland, 5E Nurse Manager, UW Medical Center – Montlake
What is your experience right now?
So many things are all going on. While we aren’t caring for many COVID-19 patients in my area, and haven’t for some time, we are certainly feeling the impact. The feeling in my area is a bit similar to March 2020 but yet different. We aren’t scared of the disease and the safety of ourselves and families, but we are scared of too many patients and not enough staff. Staffing is tight and getting tighter by the day. Omicron is just different and is so easy to catch. The hospital is full and we feel like we are scrambling to get the patients into the right beds every shift. On top of that there are lots of rapid changes: visitor policies, charting expectations, mask recommendations, etc. It feels really hard to keep up with and feel like you are doing a good job. It feels like “whack-a-mole” in trying to deal with the constant problems that come up every day. I constantly wonder if today will be the day that we finally tip over and feel like we really aren’t “getting by.” Then what?
How are you coping?
I am working really hard to tap into everything I have learned in the past two years. I am really trying hard not to repeat the mistakes I made when everything started. I have a tendency to ignore my feelings and then put my head down and push through the hard work. There is a time a place for that but that is not a long-term strategy. I know I HAVE to keep taking care of myself: I am drinking my water, paying attention to what I eat, and prioritizing sleep. I am trying to be mindful about what is going on with my body and what it needs: Do I need to take a quick walk or pause to take a few breaths? Do I need to prioritize my work: what has to get done immediately and what can wait a little bit? Can I delegate anything? Am I feeling overwhelmed: what can I control and what is out of my control? I am definitely feeling much more stress the last few weeks and I am trying to work through that. I am trying not to let my stress impact my colleagues or my family but that is definitely a challenge these days. Everyone seems to be radiating the stress they are under.
What do you need right now?
I honestly don’t know what I need right now. I don’t think I have stopped long enough to consider this. I wish someone had a crystal ball and could tell me when things would settle out, how bad everything would get before it gets better, and when is it all going to be “over”? Other than that, all I can do is take it one day at a time, be grateful for my team and that we got through another day together.
Vanessa Makarewicz, Director of Program Operations for Quality Improvement, Harborview
What is your experience right now?
It’s a mixed bag. Some days are great and some days are hopeless. I keep waiting for a COVID surge that is more of the same thing. However, each surge has been different and unique enough that it requires changing multiple workflows and policies. We do this to mitigate risk to both the patients and staff depending on how the virus behaves. This is extremely frustrating and exhausting for me and I know I am causing frustration and exhaustion to the healthcare workers at the bedside. That weighs heavy on me and my team. I really would love COVID to be consistent. To present in the same way, behave in the same way, be predictable. That way we can maintain our processes, but it just hasn’t shown that yet.
Personally, I have a 4-year-old son who is waiting for his vaccination day. We have immunocompromised family members so my family continues to live life like March 2020, as my son already has a huge risk at daycare. In addition, I continue to receive weekly exposure emails from my 7-year-old who is in first grade. These risks are something we are not willing to expose our other family members to. I miss my family. I miss my friends (do I even have friends? I don’t really know anymore). I miss a life when my husband and I are not talking about work or COVID when we are at home (my husband is also an essential worker).
How are you coping?
I probably could do better. I am trying to find things that spark joy for me. But those are becoming fewer and farther between. I’m trying to remember what was “fun” for me before the pandemic. What did I do pre-pandemic? How did I fill my cup? We were very social people, whether it was going to shows, camping at the coast, hanging with friends. But those things are still not within our reach until my youngest gets vaccinated. All I can think of to do for myself is sleep. However, my family and I are trying to plan something to look forward to every two weeks. That might be seafood night (crab and clams!) or a bike ride, nothing fancy, just something we can look forward to. But those sparks of joy are also hard to find right now.
What do you need right now?
Everyone to have grace. Give and receive grace. It’s OK to mess up, it’s OK to not be perfect. We’ll try again to do better the next day. We keep on walking, step by step.
Anna Ehoff, Nurse Manager, UW Medical Center – Montlake
What is your experience right now?
Currently there is some uncertainty with staff about staffing needs while staff are out due to COVID-19 isolations or quarantines. We as a management team are rounding on staff to answer questions and find out what they want from us.
How are you coping?
Our unit survives on its culture of teamwork. People just jump in help wherever they can for our patients and staff. They see a nurse struggling with a busy assignment and are proactive with finding help.
What do you need right now?
We need to remember what brings us joy in our jobs as nurses and providers. For example, when we have a patient make it to their heart transplant. This is a win! We celebrate these wins when our patients are escorted to the operating room (OR) by lining the hallways with all staff — nurses, providers, PT, OT, PCTs, etc. — and cheer the patient as they go to the OR. This brings us great joy and maybe a happy tear or two. This helps us remember the “why” we do what we do every day.
We need continued support from each other, transparency from administration, patience with each other, and more pet therapy with Cooper. Cooper, the pet therapy dog, was a big hit for our staff.
Gerald Tolbert, MD, Interim Associate Dean, Student Affairs, UW School of Medicine and Assistant Dean for Student Support, Foundations Dean, UW Seattle Campus
What is your experience right now?
Medical students are feeling a lot of pressure and stress trying to navigate the pandemic and still receiving a high-quality educational experience. They are concerned about COVID-19 exposure for themselves, their patients and their families. This is exacerbated by the isolation resulting from measures to contain the spread of the virus. Some students have not been able to form relationships with peers and mentors, while others struggle with a breakdown of existing relationships. In Student Affairs, we try to support each student’s unique situation. We have tried to be as flexible as possible, and it has been hard to have constant new challenges thrown our way by this ever-changing virus.
Staff shortages have been devastating and continue to wreak havoc within the School of Medicine and Student Affairs. This has and continues to strain the system that supports our medical students locally and within WWAMI. It feels like we are in this cycle where the workload has increased as we adapt to providing services for our students in this high stress environment which has led to more staff burnout and loss. We have amazing people with huge hearts and we work well together, but everyone is exhausted.
How are you coping?
I have focused my energy on the key components of student support. I work with faculty, deans and staff to give the students grace and flexibility while maintaining a rigorous education so that they get the foundation and clinical experience to become compassionate, caring, reflective and successful physicians. We continue to use technology to provide counseling, meditation and wellness and have doubled down on counseling support, which we have had unprecedented need for. I personally have committed to my physical health by exercising and recharge by talking through challenges with my friends and family.
What do you need right now?
We need to collectively understand that we need to focus on the essentials to support our students, staff and faculty. We need to be extremely thoughtful about any initiatives that are not mission critical if they add additional workload, particularly to our staff. We need to understand that the post-COVID-19 work environment and expectations are going to look vastly different from the past and adjust accordingly to maintain institutional knowledge.
The best way to support students and staff is to think innovatively about how to improve the process and speed to hire and retain qualified and dedicated individuals. We should push the use of technology to decrease the cognitive load on staff and improve efficiencies, which allows us to accomplish our core mission with a reduced work force.
Well-being resources
Visit the Employee Mental Health Resources page and get connected with a health navigator who can connect you into resources.
Want to talk to someone who has been in your shoes? Our UW Medicine Peer Supports are people just like you who are trained to listen and support you through challenging moments.
Editor’s note: Responses were lightly edited for length, clarity and style.
Photo credit: © Yaroslav Danylchenko / Stocksy United
