The constant assaults on your mental and physical health probably aren't going to slow down anytime soon. But, hey, will free burritos help?
We've talked before about how the term "healthcare heroes" makes your neighbors and coworkers seem less human. They can shoulder tremendous burdens, because that's what they're supposed to do. But the news in the healthcare sector - particularly this week - was pretty clear that clinicians and support staff can only bear so much before they break.
Take a read around this week's most important healthcare (and, yes, a little bit of supply chain) topics in the Five To Save:
1. COVID-19 hospitalizations are up. The majority of the U.S. population has now been infected at least once. No huge surprise then that Dr. Fauci had to walk back his statement that we're headed out of a pandemic.
2. Of course, the coronavirus isn't the only threat healthcare workers face. "Moral injury" - the result of acting and being confronted with acts against one's own morality - is as prevalent in healthcare workers as veterans. The negative mental health effects of moral injury will only worsen where laws against healthcare are passed, as is the case in Texas currently and looks likely to spread nationwide, according to the latest news from the Supreme Court.
3. What type of healthcare workers are taking the most time off to address their mental health issues? Believe it or not, CEOs.
4. What helps healthcare and supply chain workers out? Having reliable coworkers is a good start. Turns out organizations with dependable leaders who are collaborative and innovative tend to be more successful, too.
5. Lots of people have big ideas about how to improve the healthcare industry. One of the worst solutions that we've seen is to try to shoehorn NFTs into medicine. One slightly better idea is giving healthcare workers free Chipotle. Although that does seem contrary to the idea of keeping the healthcare community, y'know, healthy.
We've got more on the way about how healthcare providers are set up to (or - more often than not - how they fail to) support their employees in next week's blog. In the meantime, stay as strong as you can. Take as much time off as you're allotted. And nominate your favorite and least favorite coworkers for some free burritos.