3 in 10 health workers consider quitting
The doctor’s bag now sits in his closet gathering dust. He lost his stethoscope somewhere in the house — a familiar weight that sat on his neck for two decades.
It’s been months since Justin Meschler, 48, practiced medicine. And he wonders if he ever will again.
He quit his job as an anesthesiologist during the pandemic last spring when fear began seeping into every part of his life. And what began as a few months off has now turned into something much longer.
“I feel guilty for leaving. I think about the others who stayed on. I think about the patients I could have helped. I feel like I abandoned them,” Meschler said. “But mostly, I feel relieved.”
A year into the pandemic, many others are joining Meschler at the door — an exodus fueled by burnout, trauma and disillusionment.
According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, roughly 3 in 10 health-care workers have weighed leaving their profession. More than half are burned out. And about 6 in 10 say stress from the pandemic has harmed their mental health.
Nurses, doctors, technicians — and even administrative staff and dental hygienists who haven’t directly treated COVID-19 patients — explained the impulse to quit and the emotional wreckage the pandemic has left in their lives.
It’s not just the danger they’ve endured, they say. Many talked about the betrayal and hypocrisy they feel from the public they’ve sacrificed so much to save — their clapping and hero-worship one day, then refusal to wear masks and take basic precautions the next, even if it would spare health workers the trauma of losing yet another patient.
“You feel expendable. You can’t help thinking about how this country sent us to the front lines with none of the equipment needed for the battle,” said Sharon Griswold, an emergency room doctor in Pennsylvania.
“Most of us got into this to save lives. But when death is blowing around you like a tornado and you can’t make a dent in any of it, it makes you question whether you’re making any difference,” said Megan Brunson, a night-shift nurse in Dallas.