KUALA LUMPUR: The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to significant emotional stress among the country's frontliners, particularly healthcare workers.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a number of frontline workers showed symptoms of extreme stress or burnout.
This, he said, happens when they have to work with a commitment of over 100 per cent for a long period of time.
"This situation has resulted in physical and mental fatigue that can disrupt their concentration and productivity in providing services to the community," he said in a statement today.
He cited a local study by Roslan N.S. et. al. (2021) published on Jan 17, titled "Burnout Prevalence and Its Associated Factors among Malaysian Healthcare Workers during Covid-19 Pandemic: An Embedded Mixed-Method Study", which involved 893 healthcare workers (HCW).
The study, he said, revealed that the overall prevalence of personal, work, and patient-related burnout in this sample of HCW was 53.8 per cent, 39.1 per cent, and 17.4 per cent, respectively.
"A total 53.8 per cent of medical frontliners suffered from personal related burnout, and the highest was among pharmacists and health workers at the district level, while 39.1 per cent suffered from work related burnout, largely involving assistant medical officers and medical laboratory technologists.
"The prevalence of patient related burnout was 17.4 per cent among paramedics and health workers in private hospitals.
"Most of them felt that they did not receive adequate psychosocial support in the workplace.
"Among the factors that triggered burnout situations were high workloads, uncertainties caused by the pandemic, challenging work-family balance, stretched workplace relationships, disrupted career plans, and the changes and adaptation processes to various standard operating procedures (SOPs)."
Dr Noor Hisham said in recognising this dire situation, the ministry has implemented several initiatives to address the symptoms of extreme stress, especially for health and frontline workers during this pandemic period.
Among them, he said, were mental health screening to identify those with early signs of stress, anxiety and depression; and Psychological First Aid (PFA) given to those in trouble and referred to a counsellor or psychiatrist as needed.
"Besides that, pre-deployment sessions were also given to HCW and volunteers from other agencies who were mobilised nationwide. This session serves as mental preparation before performing their tasks.
"HCW are also given a Mental Health Alert Card upon completion of the task to self-monitor their mental health levels.
"To prevent burnout, HCW involved in handling the Covid-19 outbreak were also given leave without record with the consent of the Heads of Department.
"A debriefing session was given to officers upon completion of field assignments. The ministry also practices job rotation and places Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) teams at the Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres."
He advised frontline workers to take self-care measures to prevent burnout and create a healthy and cheerful work culture.
HCW, he said, should work effectively as a team to lighten the workload and perform self-assessments to detect early signs of burnout.
"Build good relationships between colleagues and family members; be willing to share and listen to views and advice if you have problems; exercise and practice breathing control techniques to reduce stress; get enough rest and eat a balanced diet.
"The ministry urges all frontliners to always take into account their mental health besides giving their unwavering commitment in providing services and treatment to patients, especially during these trying times."
He added the ministry via the MHPSS team will always collaborate with various agencies and ministries in addressing the problem of burnout among HCW and take appropriate action.
