To take care of others during this stressful time, physicians must be feeling well and thinking clearly. But stress and anxiety suppress the immune system, putting physicians—and, consequently, their patients at risk. That’s why stress prevention and management are critical for responders to stay well and to continue to help during this outbreak.
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“As a licensed clinical social worker, I currently have telehealth clients from all professions, and some are frontline workers, namely practicing physicians,” Maurya W. Glaude, PhD, MSW, LCSW-BACS, professor of practice, Tulane University School of Social Work, New Orleans, LA, told MDLinx. “At the end of the day, we are all human. We are resilient beings, and yet we each respond to stress differently. We have our own thermometers for the activation of our fight-flight-freeze response.”
During this critical time, physicians need to check their stress “thermometers.” Ask yourself if you have signs of burnout or secondary traumatic stress. These include:
- Sadness, depression, or apathy
- Feeling easily frustrated
- Feeling isolated or disconnected from others
- Feeling tired, exhausted, or overwhelmed
- Feeling like a failure or that nothing you can do will help
- Excessive worry or fear about something bad happening
- Being easily startled, or “on guard” all of the time
- Having physical signs of stress (eg, racing heart)
- Nightmares or recurrent thoughts about the traumatic situation
- The feeling that others’ trauma is yours
