Date of Award

2022

Degree Name

Healthcare Administration

College

College of Business

Type of Degree

M.S.

Document Type

Research Paper

First Advisor

Alberto Coustasse

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic impacted hospitals and healthcare workers throughout the world. This research sought to determine how the pandemic affected the mental health of healthcare workers in critical care, primarily because of hospitals’ focus on finances instead of healthcare workers’ mental well-being. This research included extensive literature review as well as a semi-structured interview with an emergency medicine physician in Ashland, KY, who worked before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized that as hospitals attempted to focus primarily on recovering financial losses incurred from the pandemic, the mental health of clinicians fell through the cracks. Hospitals sustained many financial hardships as they experienced increased rates of emergency department Left Without Being Seen (LWBS), hospital Length of Stay (LOS), overcrowding, and increased rates of ED diversion. There were limitations in this research as the pandemic was relatively new. While these were avoided, there were still several limitations secondary to publication bias, researcher bias, and limited available data. With only one interviewee, opinions were limited, as well. Further research will be necessary to determine future repercussions of the pandemic on healthcare workers' mental well-being.

Subject(s)

Health services administration.

Health facilities -- Business management.

SARS (Disease) -- Research.

COVID-19 (Disease) -- Research.

Medical personnel -- Mental health.

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