Helpful questions for healthcare workers during the second wave of Covid-19 in SA

Helpful questions for healthcare workers during the second wave of Covid-19 in SA can guide them in creating individualized meaning and coping.

Now, during this second wave of Covid-19 in South Africa, healthcare workers are really struggling.

The death toll, lack of resources, workload, staff shortages because of Covid-19 positive colleagues, personal risk, risk to the family, denial of (the seriousness of) Covid-19 and the unwillingness of a segment of the population to adhere to international preventive measures, are becoming overwhelming to healthcare workers.

Initiatives are launched to get healthcare workers to speak about what they are experiencing. These attempts come from medical facilities employing healthcare workers, community members, NGO’s, mental health care professionals and healthcare workers themselves.

The easier part for many healthcare workers is to talk about the problems they are facing and the implication thereof.

The harder part is to steer the conversations away from talking each other into a deeper, darker pit, to cause secondary trauma, to further traumatize healthcare workers to a point of not being able to continue with their duties and create total hopelessness. Therefore it is crucial to provide helpful questions for healthcare workers during this time.

Parallel to healthcare worker conversations about the problems they are facing (at the right time, place and in a constructive way), the following helpful questions for healthcare workers can lead to resilience, hope and coping:

Helpful questions to the healthcare worker:

• How have you been able to cope up to now? “Coping”, for some, may mean being able to deal with the second wave’s challenges while staying psychologically healthy. For others “coping” might simply mean, survival – going through the motions (work and personal related) despite being physically and emotionally drained. What have you done that contributed to you coping? What characteristics/traits do you have that contributed most to you coping?

• Who or what has helped you to cope? In which ways have you used this assistance to be able to cope in a way that is just right for you? If you continue to use this assistance in a way that is just right for you, what do you think you will see/do more of in your life?

• Work context: What have you done/thought/decided during this second wave of Covid-19 that you are most proud of you? What does it say about you that you were able to do/think/decide this despite your circumstances?

• Personal context: What have you done/thought/decided during this second wave of Covid-19 that you are most proud of you? What does it say about you that you were able to do/think/decide this despite your circumstances?

• What difference have you made to your patients? At least some of them, some of the time. What does it mean to you, that you have been able to make this difference (at least to some extent, some of the time)?

• In what ways do you contribute to the functioning of your team/department/ health facility during this period?

• What is the most valuable quality or skill that you bring to your team/department/ health facility during this period?

• What difference would it make if you become more aware of these qualities/ characteristics/traits/ skills/ actions/ thoughts/ decisions you have mentioned in your answers?

Helpful questions to the team/department/medical facility:

• What do you find to be the most helpful about your team/department/medical facility in coping during this second wave of Covid-19? “Coping”, for some, may mean being able to deal with the second wave’s challenges while staying psychologically healthy. For others “coping” might simply mean, survival – going through the motions (work and personal related) despite being physically and emotionally drained.

If you feel that neither your team, nor your department, nor your facility is helpful in any aspect, still try to identify what is the most helpful of the unhelpful things they offer. What does this (this which you find must helpful) enable you to do?

• What is it about the nature of your team (dynamics)/ department/ medical facility that makes the biggest difference to patients? Even if you believe that your team (dynamics)/ department/ medical facility does not make a BIG difference, what is the biggest difference? What does it mean to you to know that your team (dynamics)/ department/ medical facility makes this difference?

• Suppose, as a team (dynamics)/ department/ medical facility, you become more aware of these things you have mentioned in the previous two answers just a little bit more, what difference would it make to you and your patients?

Feel free to share your own experiences at https://www.facebook.com/320262548393244/posts/1141962856223205/