OPINION: Covid-19 keeps delivering lessons about health care worker burnout. Will we learn them?

Learning the lessons of health care worker burnout from Covid-19- STAT Health care workers have shown up day after day, risking physical and emotional burnout. Health care leaders need to show up for them. Patrick Skerrett STAT

With the authorizations for several effective vaccines against Covid-19 and a strong vaccination program in place, concerns about burnout among health care workers who have been at the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic for more than 18 months began to recede. Then Delta became a household discussion as vaccination rates have fallen far short of expectation, keeping health care workers in the trenches.

Burnout was a near-daily topic before Covid-19, but after multiple crushing rounds of the pandemic and with infections rising again, this systemic exhaustion has shifted from a concern to a crisis.

For many health care workers, this round feels personal and tragically preventable. Why? Because, as of July, more than 99% of recent Covid-19 deaths are among unvaccinated people.

If burnout isn’t addressed, it can lead to lasting mental health complications. Multiple studies show instances of post-traumatic stress disorder in health care workers following the SARS outbreak in 2002. Equally worrisome, there will also likely be a continued exodus of health care workers from the industry if health care leaders do not take drastic and immediate measures to stem the rapid turnover rate. ...

Health care has countless lessons to learn from Covid-19 — and even more opportunities to build back stronger and better on the other side of the pandemic. Health care leaders must take these lessons to heart and drive positive and lasting change. The health care workforce and the people they serve deserve nothing less.