Significant stress reported by health care workers during fall 2021

Findings from a new report show that a vast majority of Canadian health care workers reported they felt more stressed at work, and even more stated their jobs were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics Canada reports that the Survey on Health Care Workers’ Experiences During the Pandemic (SHCWEP) shows 86.5 per cent of health care workers in Canada were more stressed between September and November of 2021, while 95 per cent stated their jobs were impacted by the pandemic.

The SHCWEP findings showed that 96.7 per cent of nurses; 96.4 per cent of physicians; 95.4 per cent of other health care workers, including dentists, psychologists, and medical laboratory technologists; and 90.9 per cent of personal support workers (PSWs) or care aides at 90.9 per cent reported seeing their jobs impacted by COVID-19, whether it be changes to the hours they worked, conflicts at work, or changes to their income.

The top impacts most commonly reported in the survey were feeling more stressed at work at 86.5 per cent, followed by having an increased workload at 74.6 per cent and then having to do more work than usual at 55.5 per cent.

Nurses were the hardest hit during the fall of 2021, with 92 per cent reporting they felt most stressed at work. Physicians were the second-highest occupation group reporting increased stress at 83.7 per cent, followed by PSWs or care aides and other health care workers, both at 83 per cent. It was also noted that 83.7 per cent of nurses reported having an increased workload during the surveyed months.

Impacts experienced by health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, by occupation, September to November 2021 (graphic courtesy of Statistics Canada)

The findings also showed that, at 68.2 per cent, physicians were the group most likely having to change their methods of delivering care, which included a shift to virtual care.

Results from the SHCWEP also stated that 17.9 per cent of health care workers who did not intend to retire stated that they would be leaving or changing jobs within the next three years. Nurses again had the highest response rate in the category at 24.4 per cent, followed by PSWs or care aides at 16.4 per cent, then 13.6 per cent of other health care workers and 11.1 per cent of physicians.

The report stated that those considering leaving the professions reported job stress or burnout as the most common reason at 63.2 per cent of respondents.

StatsCan noted that health care workers with five or more years of experience were less likely to report that they intended to leave their jobs.

It was also noted that 36 per cent of the general population surveyed in the spring of 2021 reported that their mental health had worsened. Comparatively, the SHCWEP findings showed that 45.3 per cent of Canadian health care workers reported their mental health as being ‘somewhat’ or ‘much worse’ compared to before the pandemic.

The survey looked at health care workers across Canada and the results were not broken down based on provinces.