Supporting the mental wellbeing of healthcare staff in times of crisis/pressure: a rapid summary

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Introduction

We conducted this rapid summary during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to support those looking to introduce interventions to help healthcare staff during stressful or crisis situations, such as infectious disease outbreaks.

Main points

How up to date is this evidence?

We searched for evidence in 2020, and this summary includes evidence from 2018 to 2020.

What we found

• One systematic review and six guidelines were identified. With the following recommendations being reported across the sources:
  • Regular communication and accurate updates to staff
  • Encouraging supportive peer relationships and teamwork
  • Normalising psychological responses
  • Providing psychological first aid and other education or training
  • Ensuring staff are aware of available psychological and wellbeing services and how to access them

What this means

This summary may be useful for identifying key issues related to supporting the mental wellbeing of healthcare staff during times of crisis or pressure. However, it does not provide enough evidence to inform decision-making, as it is not possible to be certain that the guidelines included are evidence-based.

Technical information

We first searched the Evidence Service’s list of reliable secondary evidence sources, but no relevant sources were identified. A second, broader search was then carried out across multiple databases and websites to find guidelines and secondary literature.