Much More Than Just Women: Wonder Women

Keywords
COVID-19; SARS-CoV2; Pandemics; Betacoronavirus; Medicals; Health Occupations; Women/psychology; Professional Practice; Medical Profissional; Efficiency; Staff Development/ethics; Life Style; Epidemiology

The impact of the SARS-Cov2 pandemic hit the world quickly and overwhelmingly and highlighted the heroes of the white cover: healthcare professionals. It took more than two years of uninterrupted work, facing various challenges and external and internal conflicts to preserve the patient’s life, colleagues, their families and themselves. A complicated scenario, not only due to the overload of professional demand but also the scientific lack of knowledge of what we were facing. Scientists worldwide have joined forces to disseminate scientific evidence, and, at the same time, medical societies have mobilized to optimize care procedures with protection for active professionals.¹

Stress and Burnout syndrome are part of occupational diseases in health professionals.² However, the particular scenario of Covid-19 has shown that although it is not easy to be on the front lines in the fight against SARS-CoV2, nurses and doctors demonstrated high stress and exhaustion in studies, so behavioral/collective strategies can help.³–⁶ This mini-editorial is dedicated to female doctors.

In addition to the challenges in the roles of woman, mother, daughter, friend, companion, housewife and many others, they also struggled in exhausting journeys to take care of the patient. In the study by Oliveira et al.,⁷ women, who historically have a double shift, found themselves in Burnout during the SARS-cov2 Pandemic in Brazil. There were many accumulated demands, such as working hours in two or three different places, household chores, little leisure time and loss of salary, but they also struggled to maintain creativity and maintain a good quality of life. More than doctors, true Wonder Women sought spirituality, comfort, safety and stress reduction.

The pandemic has brought to light challenges that require reflection on our lifestyle and how they impact our quality of life. Doctors demonstrate bravery, courage and determination but still need more care for their well-being. Strategies to deal with difficult situations and cultivate well-being must be implemented in medical centers so their employees can experience and practice them. In addition to physical exercise and a balanced diet, behavioral tools such as cultivating positive thoughts and feelings of gratitude, practicing different forms of meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi or other practices similar can also calm the mind and reduce stress.⁸–¹⁰

• Short Editorial related to the article: Women Physicians: Burnout during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Brazil

Referências

• ¹
  Timerman S, Guimarães HP, Rochitte CE, Polastri TF, Lopes MACQ. COVID-19 Chain of Survival 2020. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2021 Feb;116(2):351-4. doi: 10.36660/abc.20201171.
  » https://doi.org/10.36660/abc.20201171
• ²
  Embriaco N, Papazian L, Kentish-Barnes N, Pochard F, Azoulay E. Burnout syndrome among critical care healthcare workers. Curr Opin Crit Care. 2007 Oct;13(5):482-8. doi: 10.1097/MCC. 0b013e3282efd28a.
  » https://doi.org/10.1097/MCC.0b013e3282efd28a
• ³
  Almeida, ALC. Impacto da COVID-19 na Vida do cardiologista e cirurgião cardiovascular brasileiros. Arq Bras cardiol. 2021;117(5):1048-55. https://doi.org/10.36660/abc.20201231
  » https://doi.org/10.36660/abc.20201231
• ⁴
  Fischer R, Mattos P, Teixeira C, Ganzerla DS, Rosa RG, Bozza FA. Association of Burnout with depression and anxiety in critical care clinicians in Brazil. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Dec 1;3(12):e2030898. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.30898.
  » https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.30898
• ⁵
  Lee HA, Ahn MH, Byun S, Lee HK, Kweon YS, Chung S, et al. How COVID-19 affected healthcare workers in the hospital locked down due to early COVID-19. Cases in Korea. J Korean Med Sci. 2021 Dec 6;36(47):e325. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e325.
  » https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2021.36.e325
• ⁶
  Bateman ME, Hammer R, Byrne A, Ravindran N, Chiurco J, Lasky S, et al. Death Cafés for prevention of burnout in intensive care unit employees: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (STOPTHEBURN). Trials. 2020 Dec 11;21(1):1019. doi: 10.1186/s13063-020-04929-4.
  » https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-020-04929-4
• ⁷
  Oliveira GMM, Lemke VG, Paiva MSMO, Mariano GZ, Silva ERGA, Silva SCTF, et al. Mulheres Médicas: Burnout durante a Pandemia de COVID-19 no Brasil. Arq Bras Cardiol. 2022; 119(2):307-316.
• ⁸
  Dalle Ave AL, Sulmasy DP. Health care professionals’ spirituality and COVID-19: meaning, compassion, relationship. JAMA. 2021 Oct 26;326(16):1577-8. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.16769.
  » https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.16769
• ⁹
  Doolittle BR. Association of Burnout with Emotional Coping Strategies, Friendship, and Institutional Support Among Internal Medicine Physicians. J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2021 Jun;28(2):361-7. doi: 10.1007/s10880-020-09724-6.
  » https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-020-09724-6
• ¹⁰
  Koike MK, Cardoso R. Meditation can produce beneficial effects to prevent cardiovascular disease. Horm Mol Biol Clin Investig. 2014 Jun;18(3):137-43. doi: 10.1515/hmbci-2013-0056.
  » https://doi.org/10.1515/hmbci-2013-0056

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  05 Aug 2022
• Date of issue
  Aug 2022