The Healthcare Sector Employer's Duty of Care: Implications for Worker Well-Being.

Melissa Mcdiarmid,Joanna Gaitens,Marian Condon

doi:10.3390/ijerph18116015

Abstract

Pandemic diseases of this century have differentially targeted healthcare workers globally. These infections include Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome SARS, the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Ebola. The COVID-19 pandemic has continued this pattern, putting healthcare workers at extreme risk. Just as healthcare workers have historically been committed to the service of their patients, providing needed care, termed their “duty of care”, so too do healthcare employers have a similar ethical duty to provide care toward their employees arising from historical common law requirements. This paper reports on results of a narrative review performed to assess COVID-19 exposure and disease development in healthcare workers as a function of employer duty of care program elements adopted in the workplace. Significant duty of care deficiencies reported early in the pandemic most commonly involved lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) availability. Beyond worker safety, we also provide evidence that an additional benefit of employer duty of care actions is a greater sense of employee well-being, thus aiding in the prevention of healthcare worker burnout.

Highlights

Respiratory infectious diseases of this century, beginning with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2003, have differentially targeted healthcare workers globally
The objectives of this paper are to describe the effect of employer duty of care and occupational safety and health (OSH) responsibilities on COVID-19 disease outcomes in the healthcare workforce
A narrative review was performed to assess COVID-19 exposure and disease development in healthcare workers as a function of employer duty of care program elements deployed in the workplace

Summary

Introduction

Respiratory infectious diseases of this century, beginning with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak of 2003, have differentially targeted healthcare workers globally. 52 were linked to hospital transmission, with half of those being infections in healthcare workers [4] Prior to these emerging respiratory infections, the importance of nosocomial transmission of tuberculosis and its threat to worker safety was well known [5]. The bitter lessons of Ebola, which targeted healthcare workers differentially, at more than a ten-fold higher rate than community members [6], suggested early in the COVID-19 outbreak that the healthcare workforce was likely at extreme risk. This awareness warrants an examination of worker protections in place to prevent exposure and minimize harm to workers’ health and safety

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