Compassion fatigue, work engagement, and psychological distress in health care workers treating patients with long COVID.
Hannah Uhlig-Reche, Summer Rolin, Rasika Karnik and 2 others
PMID 40249096WHAT IT FOUND
Health care workers who themselves had long COVID reported significantly higher distress, compassion fatigue, and lower engagement than those who did not.
Early-career staff also reported less engagement and more fatigue than late-career peers.
Key findings
01Providers with a personal history of long COVID had significantly lower work engagement scores than those without.
02Providers with a personal history of long COVID had significantly higher psychological distress scores than those without.
03Providers with a personal history of long COVID had significantly higher compassion fatigue scores than those without.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study relied on self-reported surveys, which can be biased by who chooses to respond. It did not compare these workers to health care workers who do not treat long COVID, so we do not know if these distress levels are unique to this population. The number of respondents was relatively small (116), limiting the power to detect differences in specific subgroups. The questionnaires used were not specifically validated for burnout in health care workers, though they were validated for general distress and compassion fatigue.
Declared interests
None declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that treating long COVID patients causes burnout for everyone. The study found no significant difference in distress or fatigue between those who volunteered to treat these patients and those who were mandated to do so. The strongest predictor of poor well-being was having long COVID oneself, not just the act of treating others.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →