The ‘Combat Fatigue’ Impact of COVID-19

Nancy Howell Agee, President & CEO, and Cathy Jennings, DNP, RN, ACNS-BC, FNAP, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Cardiac Surgery, Carilion Clinic. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted healthcare workers in a manner that can be likened to “combat fatigue” given the unique circumstances in which this has played out in our nation’s hospitals. Nurses in particular have been affected by the change in professional roles they have assumed supporting the dramatic increase in intensive care patients, the new and uncertain team dynamics due to new care environments, and the extended duration of this disease progression. Even ICU- trained nurses are finding themselves battling feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, and depression due to the intensity and focus their jobs require during such stressful and uncertain times. Nancy explores this topic from her perspective as a nurse, medical educator, national AHA Board Chair, and the President and CEO of Carillion Clinic, a $ 2.2 billion nonprofit integrated healthcare organization with seven hospitals, multi-specialty physician group, Radford University Carilion (formerly Jefferson College of Health Sciences), and a joint ventured medical school with Virginia Tech.