Our Frontline Warriors are under serious pressure and their composure is imperative but is it possible?

COVID19 has everyone living on the edge whether that person is isolating herself at home or running around working for the betterment of this situation. 

Doctors and nurses are some of our heroes who are worst hit by the crisis.

Doctors and nurses are working ceaselessly for days if not weeks together treating coronavirus infected patients day in and out. There are umpteen stories of doctors and nurses not being able to go back home for days at a stretch and even then quarantining themselves from their family. They are providing every possible help, every mentioned treatment to the patients so that they recover as early as possible at the cost of their own and their family’s safety. People are calling doctors lifesavers and there are people who are also savagely attacking them for not being able to save their loved ones. 

But in this pandemic, we often overlook an important aspect of the doctor’s task. It is universally accepted that the doctors are the frontline warriors but besides providing healthcare services the Doctor-in-charge also has to be an excellent team manager and motivator at this hour. The doctor’s guidelines, temper, knowledge, mood reflects in his whole unit and their mental health. He needs to put up his best game as a team manager since there are many health care personnel working with him, each undergoing their own personal and professional challenges. 

During the COVID crisis, each and every member on the doctor’s team is an indispensable asset and the doctor cannot afford to have disgruntled people, angry workers, or colleagues, and nurses who compromise on their mental and physical health. It is important for the doctor to be patient, kind, and yet thoroughly professional with his team. Doctors even need to notice the changes in the behavior of the unit to try and anticipate the possibility of future problems that may arise in the internal hospital organization. 

Thus, the doctor has to not only worry about his own personal problems but deal with patients and his own team’s stresses and issues.  Due to the ceaseless working hours, the health care unit might be facing exhaustive cycles. The uncertainty of the situation, sickness, and the death around might gnaw at the team member’s mind making him resentful, depressed, feel overwhelmed and harbor negative associations. 

The facts of long working hours and being cut off from their family for uncertain time periods might make them experience loneliness and lead to depressive symptoms. Their apprehension for their own self, their health, and the possibility of them being a carrier of the virus to his family can further strain the peace of mind of any team member. 

Therefore as a team leader, a doctor can:

- Switch the workload: It may work better to give a certain individual, a job besides his core, if he is professionally equipped to handle it to help reduce the monotony. A change of scene in most cases works as a soothing balm to a worried mind.

- Be a good listener: Just the way a psychologist might to with the patients, it is important for the doctor to lend the right ear to hear the team out whenever possible. This way, the team member feels less burdened and worried about the crucial situations. 

- Be the solution provider: No problem can be without a solution. It is imperative for the doctor to think of creative, rational solutions for the problems of his team. It is better if these solutions are democratically discussed with the concerned person rather than authoritatively saddled on him. The solutions either personal or professional need to be away from any kind of biases as that will instill confidence in team members to come forward and discuss their problems with the leaders without any inhibitions. 

- Loosen up the pressure: Smallest things like sharing a quick informal talk over a coffee or discussing the positive responses of a serious case with everyone or checking whether everyone has had a meal are the tiniest things that add up towards easing the pressure that everyone in the hospital is going through. These light moments might help the workers distract themselves or look towards a positive ray of hope in the impossible times.