Protecting Mental Health of Hospital Workers After Mass Casualty Events: A Social Work Imperative

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hashimoto D ; Sabbath EL ; Shaw J ; Stidsen A
• Description:
  On October 1, 2017, a mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, ended with 58 concertgoers and the gunman killed, and almost 500 people injured. In recent years, other large-scale acts of violence have caused significant morbidity and mortality: 130 dead and over 400 injured in the coordinated attacks in Paris in 2015; three dead and over 250 injured in the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. Such events are becoming both more common and more lethal. Indeed, between the initial drafting of this commentary in mid-October 2017 after the Las Vegas attack, and its submission to Social Work in mid-November 2017, a mass shooting occurred at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, that left 26 dead (plus the gunman) and 20 injured. While this commentary was awaiting publication another mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, claimed the lives of 17 teenagers and educators and injured 17 others. When acts such as these occur, physicians, nurses, social workers, and janitorial and food service staff see and do the unimaginable: mopping up pools of blood from the floor, trying to determine identities of gravely wounded patients, and fearing that they will encounter their own loved ones among the injured or deceased. Except for hospital staff who served in active combat, the type and scale of postattack patient and family care are usually distressing, even to those who consider themselves unflappable. This is especially the case in smaller hospitals that rarely see trauma victims. Without proper preparation, support, and follow-up, hospital workers risk becoming secondary-and often invisible-victims of attacks, not counted in official tallies but suffering emotional wounds that affect their lives in and out of work. Following a mass casualty, there is urgent need for the skills and services provided in hospitals by both medical social workers and employee assistance program (EAP) or occupational social workers (hereinafter referred to as EAP social workers, although we recognize that not all hospitals have on-site EAP teams). Medical social workers work with patients and families undergoing major, often life-altering trauma, and EAP social workers use similar skills to respond to mental health needs of their coworkers that may arise during the course of disaster response, providing direct support and helping facilitate supportive organizational policies and practices. However, at smaller institutions or those without a dedicated EAP social work team, medical social workers often fill both roles after mass casualty events, sometimes at the expense of their own mental health. In this commentary, we discuss roles that both EAP and medical social workers can play in supporting the mental health and well-being of hospital staff before, during, and after a mass casualty event, and provide recommendations for how these steps can be codified into hospital and citywide disaster response plans. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Violence
• Keywords:
  Disaster Clean-up Disaster Response Health Care Personnel Health Care Workers Mental Health Psychological Effects Terrorism
• ISSN:
  0037-8046
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  272-275
• Volume:
  63
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058433
• Citation:
  Soc Work 2018 Jul; 63(3):272-275
• Contact Point Address:
  Erika L. Sabbath, School of Social Work, Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Ave, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
• Email:
  erika.sabbath@bc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• Performing Organization:
  Boston University, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20140716
• Source Full Name:
  Social Work
• End Date:
  20180630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a1dff75aa80909b0ad6d60e32d87616fc11b2ef19a1ec8264e022663ee362a53ab811fc0a7a84ec75edbff8b6325084e4fa1ef6c1ebeb59bbd05672f46f10e2f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221525/cdc_221525_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 111.54 KB ]