Supporting Employee Wellness Within a Large Health System During the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

Objective: Due to COVID-19, medical providers faced stress, feelings of isolation and fear. To support employees' health, Cleveland Clinic created a Wellness and self-care during COVID-19 taskforce which developed and implemented new programs to address COVID-19 related anxiety. The objective of this quality improvement report is to describe the development and implementation of wellness services for medical providers and evaluate the program's effectiveness. Methods: The program was evaluated using a crosssectional survey. The survey included questions on circumstances related to COVID-19, wellness services used, fulfillment and burnout. We described our results using Pearson's chi-square and Student's t-tests. We grouped responders who reported change in none or some responsibilities together and responders with change in most or all responsibilities together. Results: The Taskforce implemented neighborhood support groups, mindfulness and anxiety resources for employees, and a free thirty-minute sessions of mental health counseling. The response rate was 45%. A quarter of responders (27%) needed child care or elder care;8% had been quarantined;42% reported that most or all of their work responsibilities changed in the prior month. The highest levels of burnout was reported by those who had most or all of their responsibility changed. Eightypercent of the respondents felt that leadership kept them informed. Daily information tips, online self-help resources, and virtual yoga and meditation classes were the most utilized offerings. Conclusion: Creating a task force to address employee's emotional wellbeing was an important part of our organizational response to COVID-19. The wellness assistance program appeared to be used and appreciated. Many of our interventions may have been impactful due to their ability to drive connection since social connectedness can drive health, reducing major depression, and suicide. We observed that employees whose responsibilities were mostly or all changed experienced higher levels of burnout compared to those whose responsibility was minimally or not changed.