By Jennifer Feist and Corey Feist | Sept. 9, 2021 For more than a year, our nation's health care workers have been running at full speed. They are overworked and exhausted, all while treating patients with COVID-19, some of whom have recovered from the virus and others who haven't – and may never. All this stress, death and fear understandably have taken a toll on these front-line workers and their families. During the past 16 months, our family has grieved the loss of our beloved sister and sister-in-law, Dr. Lorna Breen, an accomplished New [...]

The Power of A Awards recognize and celebrate the extraordinary contributions associations make to society The Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) has been named a 2021 Power of A Gold Award Winner for its Clinician Well-Being Program, SafeHaven™. SafeHaven™ was founded in 2020 after recognizing a greater need to provide physicians and PAs the support they need to stay well and prevent burnout. As of 2021, the SafeHaven™ protections have been extended through additional legislation to now include nurses and pharmacists; as well as medical, nursing, PA, and pharmacy students. [...]

https://www.medscape.com/f4ee8722-9458-46a7-b33d-afec75dba44b    

Burnout was already significant and growing in the medical profession when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and worsened the problem, pushing health systems and care providers to their limits for more than a year. Illustration by Kaylee Van Tuinen “Physician burnout and physician wellness has been a topic for the past several years, and adding a pandemic on top of ‘normal times,’ it’s only going to be exacerbated,” said Kevin McFatridge, chief operating officer at the Michigan State Medical Society. “When your hospitals are at capacity and people’s lives are [...]

One of Dr. Riva Kamat’s most jarring memories from the past year was an 11-year-old patient struggling to breathe. “He was COVID-positive, he was doing initially quite well, and then he started going downhill very quickly from a respiratory standpoint,” said Kamat, a pediatric hospital physician at Inova health system in Northern Virginia. Before the patient was rushed to the pediatric intensive care unit, he left a note for his medical team: “I don’t want to die. Please help me.” (The patient recovered and left the hospital three or four [...]

The family of Dr. Lorna Breen, an emergency physician working on the front lines of the pandemic who died of suicide, is working with Congress to introduce legislation that would make it easier for physicians to seek out mental healthcare. At the state level, licensing boards are also reevaluating application questions to not discourage physicians from seeking help.  Dr. Lorna Breen, an emergency physician working on the front lines of the pandemic, died by suicide on April 26. In the wake of her loss, her family and other physicians across [...]

CMG completes trial and fully launches unique program supported by MSV and VITAL WorkLife. RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- To support the needs of physicians and PAs struggling with stress, burnout and the effects of COVID-19, the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) launched the clinician well-being program, SafeHaven™. SafeHaven™ was created by the passage of the Virginia legislation, which is the first of its kind in the nation, signed in March 2020. The law allows healthcare providers to seek professional support to address career fatigue, burnout and behavioral health concerns with confidentiality and civil protections. This [...]

RICHMOND, Va. -- Unprecedented levels of burnout in the field of medicine were reported well before the COVID-19 pandemic started in Virginia. The virus has only exacerbated the critical and immediate need to help our frontline workers. In March, Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation establishing the SafeHaven™, MSV’s Physician Well Being Program. The program, operated by the Medical Society of Virginia and VITAL WorkLife, ensures physicians and physician assistants can seek mental health support without the fear of impacting their medical license. “We wanted to make sure they felt safe to [...]

These are extraordinary times for the entire world, and especially for health care workers. The effects of COVID-19 not only will change the delivery of health care services; they will change the health care workers who are providing care. Many health care employees are silently struggling. We all need support and need a place to be heard, especially now that this pandemic has dramatically changed our lives. Physicians, physician assistants (PAs) and their families in particular need that place to be safe without fear of repercussions and they need it [...]