Supporting the Healthcare Workforce in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

SARS-CoV-2, a new coronavirus disease first identified in 2019 (COVID-19), is responsible for the pandemic that is presently straining the Illinois’ healthcare workforce and is expected to continue doing so for the next several years. Prior pandemics and disasters have demonstrated that the scope of responsibilities for all types of healthcare workers evolves as a disaster unfolds, from meeting surging needs by prioritizing patient care, to re-balancing activities as each surge waxes and wanes, to recovery and mitigation, and finally to preparing for future disasters. This report presents a high-level summary of the current and expected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare workforce and makes a series of recommendations about how to minimize the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers and their families in Illinois, now and over time. The report draws on well-established frameworks for response to pandemics and disasters distilled from a body of research and practice. We conclude that focused supportive actions are necessary to facilitate work responsibilities under new pressures—people, information, process, technology, equipment, space—and to promote personal wellness—physical and psychosocial. Many steps taken to ensure public and workforce safety have also introduced economic challenges that must be addressed in order to sustain these efforts to support the workforce throughout the response and recovery phases of the pandemic. Key supports for individual providers, such as hazard pay provided by employers or government1 and free hotel rooms or meals provided by private companies, two have already begun in many places across the country, but applying these at scale remains a challenge. We include two case studies showing it is possible to respond to real needs of workers even in the midst of a pandemic, if institutions are committed, creative and nimble.