More than double the number of health care workers reported harassment at work in 2022 compared to 2018 contributing to high rates of burnout and stress, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Tuesday.
More than 45% of health care workers reported feeling burnout often or very often in 2022, compared with 32% in 2018, according to the report. Among workers who said they felt harassed, 85% reported feelings of anxiety and 60% reported feelings of depression.
Margaret Passley, a home health aide from Coram, said family members often ask aides to perform duties outside what they are allowed, and get angry when they don’t comply.
“The family members can be stressed for whatever reason and they bring it into where the patient is and the aide that is there,” she said.
“Since COVID, I can say that there is more stress on the job,” she added. “The stress comes from the patient and also comes from the family members.”
The COVID-19 pandemic “intensified” long-standing challenges that health care workers face and contributed to “new and worsening concerns,” including substance use disorders and suicidal thoughts, said Dr. Debra Houry, the CDC’s chief medical officer, in a call with reporter on Tuesday.
“Burnout among these workers has reached crisis levels,” Houry said during a briefing call with reporters. “Usually health workers care diligently for others in their time of need. It is now our nation’s health workers who are suffering and we must act.”
Hermanuella Hyppolite, director of the statewide peer assistance program at the New York State Nurses Association, said she was not surprised to hear about the increase in harassment complaints.
“Patients come into the emergency department more anxious. They have more difficulty managing their anger and they tend to take it out on the nurses,” she said.
The CDC report compared a 2022 nationwide survey of 1,952 workers, including 325 health…
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