“I felt useless”: a qualitative examination of COVID-19’s impact on home-based primary care providers in New York

Ksenia Gorbenko, Emily Franzosa, Sybil Masse, Abraham A. Brody, Orla Sheehan, Bruce Kinosian, Christine S. Ritchie, Bruce Leff, Jonathan Ripp, Katherine A. Ornstein, Alex D. Federman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Research on professional burnout during the pandemic has focused on hospital-based health care workers. This study examined the psychological impact of the pandemic on home-based primary care (HBPC) providers. We interviewed 13 participants from six HBPC practices in New York City including medical/clinical directors, program managers, nurse practitioners, and social workers and analyzed the transcripts using inductive qualitative analysis approach. HBPC providers experienced emotional exhaustion and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment. They reported experiencing grief of losing many patients at once and pressure to adapt to changing circumstances quickly. They also reported feeling guilty for failing to protect their patients and reduced confidence in their professional expertise. Strategies to combat burnout included shorter on-call schedules, regular condolence meetings to acknowledge patient deaths, and peer support calls. Our study identifies potential resources to improve the well-being and reduce the risk of burnout among HBPC providers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)121-135
Number of pages15
JournalHome Health Care Services Quarterly
Volume40
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • burnout
  • crisis management
  • health care workers
  • home based primary care
  • pandemic
  • well-being

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