As coronavirus infections spread across Shelby County, the strains they put on medical resources weren't just physical.
Even before the pandemic, more than 40 percent of American doctors experiencedwork-related, chronic stress that can deteriorate mental health. Burnout, as it's known, has become an even bigger concern as physicians cope with professional upheaval brought on by the virus.
A new service by the Memphis Medical Society, called Thrive, is now putting doctors in touch with psychologists to help them cope. The service is free for six sessions.
“Physicians are the healers in our community. Well, who’s healing the healer?” says Clint Cummins, head of the Memphis Medical Society. “Somebody’s got to be out there taking care of our physicians.”
In a recent poll, the organization found that 43 percent of their respondents said the pandemic has increased their susceptibility to burnout.
“We wanted to provide a high quality and confidential place for them to go, and those are really the two key elements,” Cummins says.
The unpredictable nature of COVID-19, along with the influx of seriously ill patients, has put a greater emotional burden on many doctors, says Dale Criner, emergency room director at St. Francis Hospital in Bartlett.
Doctors are having difficult conversations with patients’ family members over the phone instead of in person due to restrictions. They are also making judgement calls for a disease they are still learning about.
“Sometimes the patients get worse. You discharge them home. One second they’re fine, and the next day, they’re much sicker, and then they need to be hospitalized. So you second guess yourself: Should I have kept them the day before? Did I do the right thing?” Criner says. “It’s just a different environment; it’s a totally different paradigm.”
For many doctors, the workplace itself is an added stress, with a heightened risk for acquiring the virus and bringing it home.
But Criner says even some medical professionals feel a stigma associated with mental health counseling, which is why the Thrive program allows physicians to make a confidential telehealth appointment away from work.
Amy Balentine, a Memphis-based therapist, says some physicians are working longer hours or in specialites they aren’t used to. Others have seen their finances suffer because fewer patients are coming in for elective procedures.
“As a consequence, I’m seeing folks who are just emotionally exhausted, who end up then like sometimes fantasizing about just being able to quit and walk away,” Balentine says. “I really think that if more people had the financial means to just walk away from their jobs, they would.”
She says this type of emotional depletion can lead to depression, anxiety, and problems at home.
"It’s okay to not be okay,” Balentine says of heath care workers who might be ignoring their own health.
“It makes them much more relatable and much better physicians when they recognize they, too, are the patient,” she says. “We all get to take turns.”
A physician looking to make an appointment with a licensed psychologist through the Thrive initiative, can call or text the confidential hotline 901-286-3110. Physicians may also access the program by clicking here.