Quick Safety Issue 54: Promoting psychosocial well-being of health care staff during crisis

A health care organization’s ability to respond to the stresses and strains of providing adequate patient care during a crisis — such as the COVID-19 pandemic — is reliant on its workers’ psychosocial well-being. The anxiety, stress, fear and associated feelings experienced by health care workers during challenging times are real, justifiable, and do not indicate weakness or incompetence. To mitigate and respond to the psychological toll of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that health care organizations have systems in place that support institutional and individual resilience.