Healthcare workers have faced tremendous stress over the pandemic and are frustrated and angry for a variety of reasons inside and outside of work. Numerous studies have found that anger at work can lead to unethical choices and hinder performance. Feelings of anger can cloud anyone’s judgment and impact their performance at work. Are healthcare workers feeling angrier, and if so, is it affecting their work?
The HERO Registry seeks to understand pandemic-related perspectives and problems of anyone in the U.S. who works in any type of first responder or healthcare setting, as well as the people who know them. One of the ways we do this is to ask you, our community of over 50,000 members, to answer brief surveys on topics of concern.
Hot Topic: Anger
We asked HERO Registry members in September 2021 to identify the statement that best reflected how they felt. Overall, 40% said they felt angry either some of the time, most of the time or all the time. The HERO poll found that healthcare workers expressing anger differed by role with more than 55% of physicians and nurses reporting feeling angry –a percentage higher than those reporting other jobs. When asked whether feelings of anger sometimes or often prevented the person from thinking in a clear-headed way:
- 53% of physicians answered yes, some of the time or most of the time
- 59% of nurses answered yes, some of the time or most of the time
- 53% of physician assistants answered yes, some of the time or most of the time.
Feelings of anger also differed by gender with 30% of men overall reporting feelings of anger compared to 44% of women overall.
When asked to reflect about anger, and how it was impacting the person and those around them, many HERO members responded about community responses to vaccination and masking.
“Nobody wants to take the vaccine and it’s making my job harder,” said one member. “I work in environmental services and I’m cleaning after people with Covid. I feel very overwhelmed overworked, and underpaid. I’m tired of smiling and I’m getting really irritated.”
“I’m angry that my community is only 33% vaccinated and no one wears masks in public. Our hospital is running at 125% capacity,” said one HERO member. Another reported watching how opinions about vaccines affecting relationships between community members. “I am serving clients and trying to help them challenge unhelpful negative attitudes towards others during this time. It’s exhausting trying to assist them with managing their own anger. There does not seem to be any middle ground, and everyone is on high alert on two very different extremes as it relates to the pandemic, which breeds hostility towards others.”
For others, divisions within their own families or social circles were the source of anger. “Even members of my own family are unreasonable. I find it frustrating and selfish,” said one member. Another person said “People ‘doing their own research’ is leading to belligerent patients and leaving healthcare workers around me polarized and either buying into the arguments or feeling confused and disrespected.”
Not feeling supported with more work, fewer resources, and staffing challenges was another major theme uncovered in this survey. One member said, “I am a school nurse and have been an RN for decades. The disregard and lack of respect shown towards all nurses, doctors, first responders, or any medical professionals and scientists has become so aggressively defiant and hurtful, that it has caused me and other school nurses to reconsider staying in this profession at all. Administrators give us no support or direction, and a few are actually bullying and belittling us.”
Most respondents said that their anger was not affecting their work, but many reported struggling. “I feel less empathy and less compassion because of this anger and frustration,” said one member. Another said, “I question whether I should continue putting my knowledge & skills to use in service of a society which clearly doesn’t value or respect me.”
Frontline Wellness.
If you are struggling with your mental health, you are not alone. The National Alliance on Mental Health created the #FirstRespondersFirst initiative to support frontline health care and public safety professionals facing the adverse mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Share your Experiences
If you are already a member of the HERO Registry, thank you! Anyone who works in a healthcare setting and their family and community members are invited to join the HERO Registry, a community of people who share what it is like to work and live during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a Registry member you can help identify priorities for research and possible solutions for people impacted by the pandemic.