‘We are burning out, take necessary measures’

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Amid a recent surge in the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and fatalities in Turkey and the world, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and the Psychiatric Association of Turkey (PAT) have held a joint press statement entitled "When Healthcare Workers Burn out, They are Irreplaceable."

Aired live on the TTB's YouTube channel earlier today (October 19), the press statement was made by TTB Central Council Chair Prof. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, PAT Chair Dr. Ömer Böke and Psychic Trauma and Disaster Psychiatry Working Unit Coordinator Dr. Kerem Laçiner.

The statement of the associations has raised concerns that healthcare workers have burned out both psychologically and physically during this process, calling on the authorities to introduce the necessary systemic solutions and take the necessary measures to prevent the burnout of healthcare workers. "Burnout can be prevented with the measures to be taken," the statement of the TTB and PAT have underlined.

'There are very few screen tests, if at all'

The statement has shared details about the mental health of healthcare workers and their working conditions amid COVID-19 pandemic:

"Healthcare workers contract the coronavirus infectious agent and COVID-19 disease 14 times as frequently as the general public.

"Neither the physical energy nor the mental strength of healthcare workers is infinite. The burnout of health workers is as important a problem for public health as the coronavirus infection.

"The screen tests of healthcare workers, who have a higher risk of infection, have been conducted way less that they should have medically been or they have not been carried out at all. Faced with a high virus overload in hospital conditions, health workers have been faced with anxiety arising from not knowing whether they are transmitters or not.

"When the decisions taken by the administration are different from the ones required by medicine, the resultant burden turns into burnout.

"The fact that some infected healthcare workers suddenly lost their lives shortly after they returned to work shows the insensitivity in implementing the criteria to 'restart working.' The health system of our country does not treat its own workers compassionately.

'Psychiatrists should be part of pandemic boards'

"What happened in China, where the pandemic first broke out, and Italy in this process has shown us that mental health support systems are important. It has been indicated that a struggle to be waged against the psychological problems caused by this process is as important as a struggle waged against the infectious disease itself.

"In our country, physicians and assistants specialized in mental health and mental health disorders have been assigned to work in pandemic services as practising physicians. This practice leads to a lack of education on the part of several prospective specialists and causes disruptions in the treatment of individuals with mental health problems.

"Moreover, this practice also does away with the possibility of psychiatrists to prepare and implement programs to raise the mental health of healthcare workers in hospital and to prevent their burnout.

"In fact, psychiatrists should be members of hospitals' pandemic boards and they should also fulfil their main duty with the aim of supporting the mental health of health workers, in addition to treating their patients.

"In order to prevent health workers from burning out, their mental health needs to be followed up with screen tests and psychiatric examinations.

"The burnout of health workers and a decrease in their productivity will directly emerge as a public health problem; however, when this process ends in the total burnout of healthcare workers, there will no longer remain an occupational group who can deal with this problem." (AS/SD)