With health care workers on the front lines of the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some health officials say the industry must address the underlying problems of stress and burnout to head off a growing mental health crisis in the field, especially as the effects of the coronavirus will be felt for months if not years to come.
Dr. Mukta Panda, professor and assistant dean at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine at Chattanooga, said health workers are seeing up close the effects of COVID-19 — the sickness and death and how it affects families — all while going through their own struggles, many of which are shared by other Chattanooga residents, such as loved ones losing jobs or fears about becoming sick with the virus.