In 2019, the coronavirus emerged unexpectedly and shook the whole world, causing turbulence. The virus quickly spread and was declared a pandemic. Because of its severity on health and the number of deaths all over the world, the World Health Organization announced that the Covid-19 virus pandemic had become a global health emergency. There was a lockdown all over the world to reduce the spread and safety measures were announced which people adhered to. There were detrimental effects globally which includeeconomic and financial hardships, continuous increase in infection and death rates, fear-induced stress from the known and unknown, etc.

Healthcare workers are at the forefront of the battle with the pandemic facing challenges while treating infected patients. They are burdened with fighting to keep patients alive while fighting to keep themselves and their families alive. The following are some challenges faced by healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic:

Longer Working Hours:

The healthcare workers had to increase their working hours leading to exhaustion, emotional fatigue, and stress. This may lead to medical errors and lower productivity. It can also lead to reduced empathy in treating their patients. Healthcare workers are at more risk of getting infected when they are out for more hours at work. Due to the increased number of patients, they should work shorter hours.

Insufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs): 

There is some required safety equipment that will reduce healthcare workers’ risk of contracting the virus. These Personal Protective Equipment include gowns, face masks, respirators, etc. As the number of patients increase rapidly, the supply of Personal Protective Equipment became insufficient putting more healthcare workers at risk of getting infected while working. Healthcare workers were left to adapt to the changes and protect themselves and their families at all costs.

Shortage of Workers:

Healthcare workers became scarcer during the pandemic and the number of patients they had to work on kept increasing.  This was unavoidable and all available human resources were utilized. Healthcare workers experienced more stress and exhaustion while some got infected and had to be confined and treated, reducing the number of available staff was not enough, to begin with.

Family and Social Impact:

As much as the healthcare workers have the responsibility of taking care of the sick and infected, they have their families and the society to get back to. Being on the front line of the Covid-19 pandemic battle, they are at risk of getting infected and passing the virus to their immediate families and society. Some were not able to see their families for weeks. Healthcare workers were burdened with obligations from work and being careful of infecting their families. Some healthcare workers were ostracized by society due to fear of infection.

The healthcare workers are truly heroes in the way they handled the pandemic and risked their lives and that of their families for the safety of society.