“Watching the tsunami come”: A case study of female healthcare provider experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

As health systems rapidly respond to COVID-19, it is unclear how these changes influence the experiences and well-being of female healthcare providers (FHCPs), including the potential for FHCPs to develop compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress. We conducted qualitative interviews (n = 15) with FHCPs at three locations (Washington, California, and New York). Interviews explored FHCP's perspectives on how care delivery changed, processes of information delivery and decision-making, gender inclusion, and approaches to managing stress and well-being. An inductive coding process was used to generate themes. FHCPs described significant changes to the way they delivered care, and their work environments, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Five themes emerged that characterized the experiences of FHCPs during COVID-19, including conflicting feelings while providing care, managing information and decisions, balancing roles, coping and well-being, and considerations for moving forward. FHCPs experienced many impacts to their professional and personal lives during COVID-19 that further complicated their ability to manage stress and well-being. The themes identified through this work offer important lessons about how to support the well-being of FHCPs and signify the widespread potential for compassion fatigue among FHCPs as a result of COVID-19.