Unmasking healthcare worker PTSS: Insights into post-pandemic trauma and trauma-informed leadership

This webinar will discuss the research of Laurence M. Boitet, PhD, and her co-authors who conducted research into the psychological distress resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers, including the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Their research was designed to support the development of trauma-informed leadership strategies, and they collected data from June to July 2022 using a cross-sectional anonymous survey in a large academic medical center setting. A total of 6,466 clinical and non-clinical employees completed the survey. The principal findings suggest that the top stressors among both clinical and non-clinical workers produce the same result: burnout, moral distress, and compassion fatigue. In addition, one of the surprising findings was that women and sexual minorities in the clinical sample exhibited a higher incidence of post-traumatic stress, and that non-White populations were more likely to experience post-traumatic stress. Laurence and her co-authors will offer health leaders practical recommendations on how to develop best practices aimed at reducing distress, and how to develop strategies to circumvent trauma derived from future crises. Leaders will want to devote their attention to both those who work on the frontlines and those who work behind the scenes.