Operational Stress Control Service: An Organizational Program to Support Health Care Worker Well-Being
Abstract
Objective: This manuscript details the methods, outcomes, and lessons learned from a successful multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary, institutional response to HCW well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Operational Stress Control Service (OSCS) is a model for the prevention and management of stress and trauma implemented within an occupational system. Communication, Employee Wellness, and Intervention were targeted program aspects, adapted from an established US military protocol. Results: Since April 2020, OSCS has received 4660 unique survey responses; reached 1007 employees in-person; informed 125 leadership-hosted videoconferences; and assisted 13 departments with grief and morale-related challenges. Conclusions: OSCS improved communication across the organization and allowed for rapid deployment of solutions to maintain effective operations. Results highlight the benefit of multiple avenues of frequent, bottom-up, and top-down communication. Creating such services during times of normalcy might be considered in preparation for future crisis.
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Healthcare workers report higher rates of absences due to psychological distress and job burnout than workers in other sectors.
“Widely acknowledged as the cost of caring, healthcare workers report higher rates of absences due to psychological distress and job burnout than workers in other sectors.1–6”
From Workplace interventions to improve well-being and reduce burnout for nurses, physicians and allied healthcare professionals: a systematic review. (2023) · cites this paper as [5]
The “Parallels and Application to a Health Care Setting” section (page unavailable) says healthcare workers face a heavy mental-health burden from burnout and emotional trauma. It does not report rates of absence due to those conditions or compare healthcare workers with workers in other sectors. (LLM, conf=0.78)
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НАПРЯМИ УДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ СИСТЕМИ ПСИХОЛОГІЧНОЇ ПІДТРИМКИ ВІЙСЬКОВОСЛУЖБОВЦІВ У СУЧАСНИХ УМОВАХ
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- Authors
- Martindale, S. L., Shura, R. D., Cooper, M. A., Womack, S. F., Hurley, R. A., Vair, C. L., & Rowland, J. A.
- Affiliations
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs (US)
- Corresponding author
- Martindale, Sarah L.
- Venue
- Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
- Published
- 2021-08-11
- Volume
- 64
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 64-70
- ISSN
- 1076-2752 (ISSN-L)
- 1536-5948
- PMC
- PMC8715925
- OpenAlex
- W4288063471
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Keywords
- healthcare worker well-being, COVID-19 pandemic, occupational stress, trauma management, employee wellness, organizational communication, bereavement support, morale, crisis preparedness
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