Unmasking Our Grief

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Health care systems have been calling for trainings on the topics of self-care and burnout to help staff cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The geriatric care workforce in particular has been hard hit by the stresses of COVID-19 and social inequities for themselves and their patients. These stresses have led to trauma and grief among our colleagues and ourselves.OBSERVATIONS: Self-care techniques in and of themselves are not an adequate salve for the massive, collective, and many times unrecognized grief that the geriatric care workforce has faced over the course of this pandemic. We must acknowledge, name, and make space for the grief that is exhausting the entire elder care workforce and we must do so at an organizational level. In this paper, we briefly discuss the distress affecting the geriatric care workforce, reflect on our efforts to cope as health care workers, and offer recommendations at individual and organization levels to help address our collective grief.CONCLUSIONS: This pandemic has revealed our vulnerabilities as well as our strengths. These experiences also present us with opportunities to be better and do better as both professionals and people. We hope that teams and organizations will take advantage of these opportunities for self-reflection and continue unmasking our grief, healing our wounds, and honoring our shared humanity.