COVID-19 is taking a toll on medical professionals. Let’s invest in their well-being

“She tried to do her job, and it killed her.”

That was the heartbreaking eulogy offered by the father of Dr. Lorna Breen after the Manhattan emergency room physician took her own life earlier this week.

Breen was the medical director of the emergency department at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital and treated dozens of COVID-19 patients. She had no history of mental illness, but her family said Dr. Breen, who survived COVID-19 herself, was traumatized by devastating scenes of treating patients with the disease – stories she shared with her family in her final days.

News of Dr. Breen’s death sent shockwaves through the medical community, and received national attention, but for many in the medical profession, it is an all-too-familiar story. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, burnout has been a growing concern among physicians, nurses and other medical practitioners – one that is taking its toll on those who take care of us.

Rates of suicide, depression and substance abuse are higher among physicians and nurses than among the general population. A recent report by the American Psychiatry Association found an estimated 300 to 400 doctors kill themselves each year. That’s about 40 of every 10,000 physicians – a rate more than double that of the general population.

To help address the factors that create and cause burnout for health care professionals, the California Medical Association has partnered with the Service Employees International Union and the United Nurses Association of California to push for state funding to support Care 4 Caregivers Now. This new initiative has already trained dozens of physicians and nurses as practice coaches who are available to offer guidance and mentorship to their colleagues on the front lines of this crisis and other health care workers facing stress or burnout.

Coaching is a nonjudgmental, engaging, caregiver-centered way of providing emotional support to talk through these difficult times. While not a substitute for therapy or medical care, coaching has been demonstrated to provide several benefits, including relief for emotional exhaustion and reduced levels of self-reported burnout.

Coaching is a recognized method of creating resiliency within the healthcare workforce, helping physicians and nurses cope with the unique mental health challenges workers are facing in the current crisis.

In addition to horrifying accounts of people effectively suffocating to death – many of them dying alone because of strict quarantine protocols – physicians and nurses also have to worry about getting sick themselves and potentially infecting their colleagues and family members.

According to her friends, this was part of what weighed on Dr. Breen before her death. We should not let the death of Lorna Breen be in vain. We should use it as a rallying cry to highlight the need for wellness services for medical practitioners and to ensure stories like this do not happen again.

Investing in wellness now can pay dividends for health care providers and the patients who depend on them. As California spends money on protective gear to protect the physical well-being of healthcare workers, we are imploring Gov. Gavin Newsom to invest in the well-being and mental resiliency of those on the frontline protecting public health.

While we all hope the COVID-19 outbreak will soon pass, we know this pandemic will have lasting impacts will have on our health care system. The horror and stress of treating patients during this time will only exacerbate the problems of burnout, depression and anxiety among physicians, nurses and other medical providers.

The COVID-19 crisis has taxed the limits of our health care system. Our clinicians, who have risen to the challenge, are facing unprecedented risks, including physical safety, significant disruptions in social support, moral dilemmas and emotional distress.

Understanding their fears and anxieties is critical to meeting the needs of our clinicians. Investing in their well-being will help keep nurses, physicians and other medical professionals on the front lines, and ensure they are getting the care they need as they continue to care for all of us.