Occupational Stress Among Health Worker in a National Dermatology Hospital in Vietnam, 2018 | Anh Nguyen Ngoc, Xuan Thi Thanh, Hue Le Thi, Anh Vu Tuan and Thanh Nguyen Van
In Vietnam, the issue of occupational stress among health workers has also been of great interest in recent years. Specifically, in 2016, a study conducted on eight central hospitals in Hanoi showed that 48.6% of health workers showed stress. A number of studies have focused on stress in clinical nurses, and show that the incidence of occupational stress in this group was also relatively high.
In Vietnam, patients with skin disease have low health related quality of life, low family quality of life, and poor sleep. More severe skin disease correlated to greater psychological burden, and such burden may be displaced to health professionals.
As no research on occupational stress among health staff had not previously been conducted at the Leprosy Hospital, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 171 doctors and nurses in a National Dermatology hospital using the Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire which has been validated in Vietnamese (JCQ-V), to assess the prevalence of occupational stress and to explore associated factors of occupational stress among health care workers.
The result showed that doctors and nurses with occupational stress accounted for 6.4%. This proportion was higher among nurse compared to doctor (8.0% vs. 2.2%); among those with diploma literacy compared to bachelor and above (10.6% and 2.3%). This rate was also higher in health workers under 30 years old (12.9%), health workers under 5 years at work (12.1%), working night shift from 3–4 nights (33.3%), temporary employment (12.8%), heavy workload occasionally (12.5%), and working hard occasionally (17.2%) compared to those in the comparison groups with p value <0,05. This prevalence concentrated in some departments such as surgery (11.9%), internal medicine (6.7%), dermatology, and others (1.5%).
Prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety and stress among health staff in the hospital of tropical diseases - Ho Chi Minh city-Vietnam | Phạm Ngọc Thanh, Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngọc, Mary Chambers, Phùng Khánh Lâm, Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh Châu, Nguyễn Thị Lệ Hồng
With no previously conducted surveys in Vietnam to explore depression and anxiety of health staff in hospitals, a cross-sectional survey conducted at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in 2016 was designed to answer two important research questions: (1) what are the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among the clinical and non-clinical staff at the Hospital of Tropical Diseases(HTD) in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam? and (2) what are the associated factors of these mental problems at HTD?
Results showed a high prevalence of depression and anxiety among health staff at the Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, with gender being the only factor significantly associated with depression and anxiety. The associated factors are related with organization and communication problems. Health staff clearly needed support from hospital managers and psychological experts to improve their mental health.
Motivation or demotivation of health workers providing maternal health services in rural areas in Vietnam: findings from a Mixed-methods study | Nguyen Thi Hoai Thu et al (2015)
In developing countries, while improvements in maternal health (MH) have been remarkable, there is still significant room for improvement, particularly in disadvantaged regions. A number of reasons for the slow progress in achieving MH-related Millennium Development Goals have been identified in previous studies and reports, including the unavailability of MH workers, uneven distribution of the health workforce, and low motivation of health workers (HWs).
International experience has demonstrated the critical roles that a HW could play in improving health outcomes but also in promoting human rights, accountability, innovation, political commitment and multi-stakeholder partnership. These issues remain relevant in the new era of development, moving forward with the newly determined Sustainability and Development Goals. Among the common problems and challenges affecting the development of human resources for health, low levels of the health workforce motivation is considered an important issue
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Identifying factors for job motivation of rural health workers in North Viet Nam | Marjolein Dieleman, Pham Viet Cuong, Le Vu Anhand Tim Martineau (2003)
Many Ministries of Health are trying to improve the functioning of their health care system by introducing changes in resource allocation, better management and changes in the roles of the government… A prerequisite of a well-functioning system is a well-motivated workforce. ...This study is the first of its kind that asked health workers in rural Vietnam what motivates them and that looked at their perception on the application of Human Resource Management in the field….taking into consideration the perception of health workers with respect to motivation policies and its operationalization.
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Optimism of health care workers during a disaster: a review of the literature | Noga Boldor, Yosefa Bar-Dayan, Tova Rosenbloom, Joshua Shemerand Yaron Bar-Dayan (2011)
The health care profession is always physically and emotionally demanding, sometimes requiring de- cision-making on life and death issues in a very short space of time with limited resources. During disasters such as terror attacks, war or natural catastrophes this situation intensifies since these medical teams must manage the scenario in a state of overall chaos. The health care teams are faced with enormous challenges and are endangered by emotional upheaval. There are human strengths that reinforce mental fortitude acting as buffers against mental illness, such as courage, future-mindedness, optimism, interpersonal skills, faith, work ethics, hope, honesty, perseverance and capacity for flow and insight….
This review aims to find the linkage between optimism among healthcare workers (HCWs) during disasters and their active response, with special emphasis on the relationship between optimism and knowledge, emotions and behavior.
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Healthcare providers on the frontlines: a qualitative investigation of the social and emotional impact of delivering health services during Sierra Leone’s Ebola epidemic | Shannon A. McMahon,Lara S. Ho, Hannah Brown,Laura Miller, Rashid Ansumana and Caitlin E. Kennedy
This article examines the social and emotional experiences of frontline providers (those not working in Ebola-specific treatment facilities) as they became de facto first responders in Sierra Leone’s Ebola outbreak.
Frontline healthcare workers described how Ebola weakened a sense of trust within and across health facilities, providers, communities and households. Along with changes in their professional lives, communities and homes, providers described a profound sense of stigmatization, suffering, loneliness, isolation and sadness since the onset of Ebola.
To mitigate psychiatric morbidities and maladaptive coping mechanisms, health systems must consider how to enhance mental health and psychosocial support for not only providers working in designated Ebola treatment and care facilities but also those working in facilities that are not specifically for Ebola management.
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Managing mental health challenges faced by healthcare workers during covid-19 pandemic | Neil Greenberg (professor of defence mental health), Mary Docherty (consultant liaison psychiatrist), Sam Gnanapragasam (NIHR academic clinical fellow in psychiatry), Simon Wessely (regius professor of psychiatry)
The covid-19 pandemic is likely to put healthcare professionals across the world in an unprecedented situation, having to make impossible decisions and work under extreme pressures. These decisions may include how to allocate scant resources to equally needy patients, how to balance their own physical and mental healthcare needs with those of patients, how to align their desire and duty to patients with those to family and friends, and how to provide care for all severely unwell patients with constrained or inadequate resources. This may cause some to experience moral injury or mental health problems.
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Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019 | Jianbo Lai, MSc; Simeng Ma, MSc; Ying Wang, MSc; Zhongxiang Cai, MD; Jianbo Hu, MSc; Ning Wei, MD; Jiang Wu, MD; Hui Du, MD; Tingting Chen, MD; Ruiting Li, MD; Huawei Tan, MD; Lijun Kang, MSc; Lihua Yao, MD; Manli Huang, MD; Huafen Wang, BD; Gaohua Wang, MD; Zhongchun Liu, MD; Shaohua Hu, MD
Since the end of December 2019, the Chinese city of Wuhan has reported a novel pneumonia caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is spreading domestically and internationally. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization held an emergency meeting and declared the global COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
Facing this critical situation, health care workers on the front line who are directly involved in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with COVID-19 are at risk of developing psychological distress and other mental health symptoms. The ever-increasing number of confirmed and suspected cases, overwhelming workload, depletion of personal protection equipment, widespread media coverage, lack of specific drugs, and feelings of being inadequately supported may all contribute to the mental burden of these health care workers. Previous studies have reported adverse psychological reactions to the 2003 SARS outbreak among health care workers.Studies showed that those health care workers feared contagion and infection of their family, friends, and colleagues,felt uncertainty and stigmatization,reported reluctance to work or contemplating resignation,and reported experiencing high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms,which could have long-term psychological implications.Similar concerns about the mental health, psychological adjustment, and recovery of health care workers treating and caring for patients with COVID-19 are now arising.
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The need for empathetic healthcare systems | Angeliki Kerasidou, Kristine Bærøe,Zackary Berger, Amy E Caruso Brown
Medicine is not merely a job that requires technical expertise, but a profession concerned with making the best decisions and recommendations with reference to, and in consultation with, the patient. This means that the skill set required for healthcare professionals in order to provide good care is a combination of scientific knowledge, technical aptitude, and affective qualities or virtues such as compassion and empathy. Being able to exercise empathy in healthcare depends on the individual healthcare practitioners and on the environment in which they work. It is, therefore, important to move away from an account of empathy that is only understood as a skill or virtue of the individual practitioner, and develop a new, broader account of healthcare-relevant empathy that encompasses healthcare systems and their role. This paper explores this question in regard to the micro-level (Individual), macro-level (institutional), meso-level (governmental).
An innovative leadership development initiative to support building everyday resilience in health systems l
Jacinta Nzinga, Mwanamvua Boga, Nancy Kagwanja, Dennis Waithaka, Edwine Barasa, Benjamin Tsofa, Lucy Gilson, and Sassy Molyneux
Effective management and leadership are essential for everyday health system resilience, but actors charged with these roles are often under- prepared and undersupported to perform them. Particular challenges have been observed in interpersonal and relational aspects of health managers’ work, including communication skills, emotional competence and supportive oversight. Within the Resilient and Responsive Health Systems (RESYST) consortium in Kenya, the authors worked with two county health and hospital management teams to adapt a package of leadership development interventions aimed at building these skills. This article provides insights into: (1) the content and co-development of a partic- ipatory intervention combining two core elements: a complex health system taught course, and an adapted communications and emotional competence process training; and (2) the findings from a formative evaluation of this intervention which included observations of the training, individual interviews with participating managers and discussions in regular meetings with managers.
Following the training, managers reported greater recognition of the importance of health system software (values, belief systems and relationships), and improved self-awareness and team communication. Managers appeared to build valued skills in active listening, giving constructive feedback, ‘stepping back’ from automatic reactions to challenging emotional situations and taking responsibility to communicate with emotional competence. The training also created spaces for managers to share experiences, reflect upon and nurture social competences. The authors draw on our findings and the literature to propose a theory of change regarding the potential of our leadership development intervention to nurture everyday health system resilience through strengthening cognitive, behavioural and contextual capacities. It is recommended that further development and evaluation of novel approaches such as those shared in this article to support leadership development and management in complex, hierarchical systems.