Healthcare Workers Report Growing Harassment

According to a new Vital Signs report published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than twice as many U.S. healthcare workers, including environmental services (EVS) workers, reported being harassed at work in 2022 compared to 2018.

The threats, bullying, verbal abuse, and other forms of harassment being suffered by healthcare workers on the part of patients and even co-workers create, the report said, a hostile work environment with implications on the mental well-being of the workers being harassed.

The report states that, from 2018 to 2022, healthcare workers in the United States experienced greater declines on a range of mental health outcomes than other types of workers. According to the CDC, healthcare worker burnout was problematic before the COVID-19 pandemic. The unique challenges brought about by the pandemic, the report concludes, might have further impaired healthcare worker mental well-being and increased their intent to leave their jobs.

Of those surveyed, 85% of the participants who experienced harassment also reported feelings of anxiety, and 81% had feelings of burnout. More than half (60%) mentioned feelings of depression.

On the flip side, those who experienced a positive work environment had less anxiety (53%), burnout (42%), and depression (31%). The CDC described such an environment as one that lacked harassment and included the ability to participate in decision-making, trust in management, supervisor assistance, enough time to complete work, and support for productivity.

“CDC’s efforts to address health worker mental health come at the right time, as we see how health workers have self-reported a unique increase in poor mental health, especially after a global pandemic,” said L. Casey Chosewood, M.D., M.P.H., director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Office for Total Worker Health^®. “In this study, we saw that when working conditions are positive, and where health workers are supported and have the potential to thrive, poor mental health outcomes were less likely. Employers can make a critical difference here by taking preventive actions and improving difficult working conditions that are linked with anxiety, depression, and burnout.”

NIOSH has launched a national campaign—the Impact Wellbeing campaign—to provide healthcare employers with resources that can help improve worker mental health. Employers can also learn more about how work conditions and work design impact employee well-being by checking out the NIOSH Total Worker Health^® Program and the Healthy Work Design and Well-Being Program. For both supervisors and employees, NIOSH has training and resources for healthcare workers on stress, fatigue, burnout, substance abuse, and suicide.

“We depend on our nation’s health workers, and they must be supported,” said Debra Houry, M.D., M.P.H., CDC chief medical officer. “Employers can act now by modifying working conditions associated with burnout and poor mental health outcomes in health settings.”