Managing Stress among Healthcare Workers: Strategies and Implications Associated With Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Coronavirus disease or Covid-19 has become a global pandemic. It was first reported in Wuhan, China. The disease has crossed all borders across the world and today the whole world is suffering from the pandemic now. So when Covid-19 started shaking the world with immense spreading of its first wave and second wave, the whole population is completely dependent on the healthcare sector. Since the healthcare workers are part of the service sector, they had to support and take care of the patients by risking their lives. The stress taken by the healthcare workers is beyond the imagination of a layman and is greater than normal work stress. Covid-19 made its entry abruptly, putting a high level of stress on the medical community. There has never been such a catastrophic pandemic that has occurred in the last five decades. The hospital infrastructure was never ready for such a huge pandemic and its implications. More patient load, high infectivity rate, increase in mortality rate, family getting infected, more serious infections, scarcity of medicines, anxiety of getting infected etc. all contributed to the increase in stress level of the healthcare workers. This study aims to understand the stress faced by the healthcare workers during the first and second wave of the pandemic and identifying the solutions to reduce stress and promote their mental health by listening to good music, having a good sleep, opening up to a counsellor, getting spiritual help etc., if a third wave occurs.