1. AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH
SECTOR 125, NOIDA - 201303, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA
NTCC Term Report
On
ETHICAL ISSUES OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS BEING OVERWORKED AND
FORCED LAYOFFS IN CERTAIN SECTORS
Submitted by: NAMAN SHARMA
Course: BSc. (H) Life Sciences
Enrollment No.: A12193918015
Semester: 5
2. INTRODUCTION
Stress in the workplace is globally considered a risk factor for workers' health and
safety.
Health care workers are at a high risk of experiencing severe distress, burnout, and
both mental and physical illness.
Announcement of harsh and immediate layoffs by organisational management
contribute to employee cynicism.
Mismatches in workload and job control may aggravate exhaustion through excessive
demands, by generating a general condition of anxiety.
A mismatch in workload implies that workers feel overworked and/or do not have
enough time to perform the job.
Work overload is a major source of exhaustion that, in turn, is at the root of burnout,
representing the basic individual stress component of burnout.
3. Layoffs & Workload amongst Healthcare Workers
Many healthcare workers experience job insecurity regarding the future of their
hospital positions.
In times of budget cuts and layoffs, employees often experience an increase in
workload
Healthcare worker’s workload is significantly increased and as a result, their stress
levels.
Job insecurity has been found to be associated with worker anger and hostility.
Moreover, quantitative workload is a consistent stressor in healthcare workers.
Workload among healthcare workers is one of the most significant predictors of
negative mental health outcomes, stress, less job satisfaction, and burnout.
4. CHALLENGES FACED BY HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN INDIA
The outlook of patients towards doctors have undergone a paradigm shift. Their
faith in doctors has been replaced by a litigant attitude.
One of the most common types of physical challenges that are faced by doctors
nowadays is long working hours. Huge workload itself give rise to other related
problems.
Indian doctors are always ‘overworking’. Long hours of work definitely affects
both their physical and mental health.
Low remuneration – though doctors have been paid well by at least corporate
hospitals, nurses are yet to get a good pay matching to their duties.
Due to layoffs deficient manpower leads to unmanageable patient load and
disparity in the Nurse: Patient ratio
5. HEALTH WORKERS-FORCED LAYOFFS AMIDST COVID19 PANDEMIC
Health care workers are facing threats to their jobs — pay cuts, furloughs and even
layoffs — amid the worst disease outbreak in a century.
The financial future of the nation's largest health care systems is now in jeopardy -
leading many of these institutions to let go of health care workers at a time when
patients need them most.
Huge financial losses have forced some hospitals to let go off health-care workers.
The absences have put a strain on doctors, nurses and other health-care workers
treating a surge of patients that has already stretched some health-care systems to
the breaking point.
While private practices and smaller health systems were some of the first to be
affected, as time has stretched on, some of the country's largest health systems
have shown that they too are vulnerable.
6. HOW TO PREPARE FOR A LAYOFF IN HEALTHCARE
Recognize the Warning Signs: A hospital is forced to lay off staff if the
institution is struggling financially. Hospitals that slash supply budgets or leave
positions vacant rather than replacing workers may be in financial trouble.
Understand Where You Fit: Bedside nurses and other direct-care clinicians may
be slightly less prone to layoffs than managers, training and development
specialists and other hands-off health-industry professionals.
Prepare: Network with others in your specialty, and proactively check job
postings to get a feel for what's available.
Make a Comeback: You're going to find another job, but you should focus on
finding the right job with the right organization.
Don't Take It Personally: The layoff is probably due to factors beyond your
control.
7. STRATEGIES TO PREVENT BURNOUT IN HEALTHCARE
WORKERS
The best way to fight burnout is to recognize its warning signs, take the symptoms
seriously, and seek intervention as early as possible.
Adapt behaviour outside of work by keeping your professional life and your home
life separate & avoiding dwelling on work issues at home.
Take time for self-care by maintaining a well-balanced diet, exercise, and getting
adequate rest.
Building a supportive and healthy work environment reduces the stress nurses
feel.
Employee assistance programs (counselling) can provide assistance specifically to
prevent nurse burnout.
