IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p6015-d568269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Healthcare Sector Employer’s Duty of Care: Implications for Worker Well-Being

Author

Listed:
  • Melissa McDiarmid

    (School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA)

  • Marian Condon

    (School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA)

  • Joanna Gaitens

    (School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA)

Abstract

Pandemic diseases of this century have differentially targeted healthcare workers globally. These infections include Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome SARS, the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and Ebola. The COVID-19 pandemic has continued this pattern, putting healthcare workers at extreme risk. Just as healthcare workers have historically been committed to the service of their patients, providing needed care, termed their “duty of care”, so too do healthcare employers have a similar ethical duty to provide care toward their employees arising from historical common law requirements. This paper reports on results of a narrative review performed to assess COVID-19 exposure and disease development in healthcare workers as a function of employer duty of care program elements adopted in the workplace. Significant duty of care deficiencies reported early in the pandemic most commonly involved lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) availability. Beyond worker safety, we also provide evidence that an additional benefit of employer duty of care actions is a greater sense of employee well-being, thus aiding in the prevention of healthcare worker burnout.

Suggested Citation

  • Melissa McDiarmid & Marian Condon & Joanna Gaitens, 2021. "The Healthcare Sector Employer’s Duty of Care: Implications for Worker Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:6015-:d:568269
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/6015/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/6015/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paula McFadden & Jana Ross & John Moriarty & John Mallett & Heike Schroder & Jermaine Ravalier & Jill Manthorpe & Denise Currie & Jaclyn Harron & Patricia Gillen, 2021. "The Role of Coping in the Wellbeing and Work-Related Quality of Life of UK Health and Social Care Workers during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-15, January.
    2. Mario Rivera-Izquierdo & María del Carmen Valero-Ubierna & Silvia Martínez-Diz & Miguel Ángel Fernández-García & Divina Tatiana Martín-Romero & Francisco Maldonado-Rodríguez & María Rosa Sánchez-Pérez, 2020. "Clinical Factors, Preventive Behaviours and Temporal Outcomes Associated with COVID-19 Infection in Health Professionals at a Spanish Hospital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-13, June.
    3. Cohen, Jennifer & Rodgers, Yana, 2020. "Contributing Factors to Personal Protective Equipment Shortages during the COVID-19 Pandemic," MPRA Paper 103496, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Luca A Morgantini & Ushasi Naha & Heng Wang & Simone Francavilla & Ömer Acar & Jose M Flores & Simone Crivellaro & Daniel Moreira & Michael Abern & Martin Eklund & Hari T Vigneswaran & Stevan M Weine, 2020. "Factors contributing to healthcare professional burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid turnaround global survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-11, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nashit Chowdhury & Ankit Kainth & Atobrhan Godlu & Honey Abigail Farinas & Saif Sikdar & Tanvir C. Turin, 2022. "Mental Health and Well-Being Needs among Non-Health Essential Workers during Recent Epidemics and Pandemics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-30, May.
    2. Anna Anastasopoulou & Eftichia Vraimaki & Panagiotis Trivellas, 2023. "Recovery for Resilience: The Mediating Role of Work–Life Balance on the Quality of Life of Women Employees," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Mehwish Majeed & Muhammad Irshad & Jos Bartels, 2021. "The Interactive Effect of COVID-19 Risk and Hospital Measures on Turnover Intentions of Healthcare Workers: A Time-Lagged Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Hsiu-Ju Jen & Kuei-Ru Chou & Ching-Yi Chang, 2022. "Fostering Nursing Staff Competence in Personal Protective Equipment Education during COVID-19: A Mobile-Video Online Learning Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-10, July.
    5. Jermaine M. Ravalier, 2022. "Co-Design, Delivery, and Evaluation of Wellbeing Initiatives for NHS Staff: The HOW (Healthier Outcomes at Work) NHS Project," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Yasuhiro Kotera & Akihiko Ozaki & Hirotomo Miyatake & Chie Tsunetoshi & Yoshitaka Nishikawa & Makoto Kosaka & Tetsuya Tanimoto, 2022. "Qualitative Investigation into the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers in Japan during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-14, January.
    7. Georgia Libera Finstad & Gabriele Giorgi & Lucrezia Ginevra Lulli & Caterina Pandolfi & Giulia Foti & José M. León-Perez & Francisco J. Cantero-Sánchez & Nicola Mucci, 2021. "Resilience, Coping Strategies and Posttraumatic Growth in the Workplace Following COVID-19: A Narrative Review on the Positive Aspects of Trauma," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-25, September.
    8. Monia Vagni & Valeria Giostra & Tiziana Maiorano & Giuliano Santaniello & Daniela Pajardi, 2020. "Personal Accomplishment and Hardiness in Reducing Emergency Stress and Burnout among COVID-19 Emergency Workers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-18, October.
    9. Eleonora Gambaro & Carla Gramaglia & Debora Marangon & Danila Azzolina & Manuela Probo & Marco Rudoni & Patrizia Zeppegno, 2021. "The Mediating Role of Gender, Age, COVID-19 Symptoms and Changing of Mansion on the Mental Health of Healthcare Workers Operating in Italy during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Chang-Ho Jihn & Bokyoung Kim & Kue Sook Kim, 2021. "Predictors of Burnout in Hospital Health Workers during the COVID-19 Outbreak in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-17, November.
    11. Greta Mazzetti & Chiara Consiglio & Ferdinando Paolo Santarpia & Laura Borgogni & Dina Guglielmi & Wilmar B. Schaufeli, 2022. "Italian Validation of the 12-Item Version of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT-12)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-16, July.
    12. Sara Saadatmand & Khodakaram Salimifard & Reza Mohammadi & Alex Kuiper & Maryam Marzban & Akram Farhadi, 2023. "Using machine learning in prediction of ICU admission, mortality, and length of stay in the early stage of admission of COVID-19 patients," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 328(1), pages 1043-1071, September.
    13. Cervantée E. K. Wild & Hailey Wells & Nicolene Coetzee & Cameron C. Grant & Trudy A. Sullivan & José G. B. Derraik & Yvonne C. Anderson, 2022. "Mixed-Methods Survey of Healthcare Workers’ Experiences of Personal Protective Equipment during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Aotearoa/New Zealand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-10, February.
    14. Istiak Ahmad & Fahad Alqurashi & Ehab Abozinadah & Rashid Mehmood, 2022. "Deep Journalism and DeepJournal V1.0: A Data-Driven Deep Learning Approach to Discover Parameters for Transportation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-72, May.
    15. Amin Eshkiti & Fatemeh Sabouhi & Ali Bozorgi-Amiri, 2023. "A data-driven optimization model to response to COVID-19 pandemic: a case study," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 328(1), pages 337-386, September.
    16. Martina Capuzzo & Gian Luca Viganò & Cinzia Boniotti & Lucia Maria Ignoti & Claudia Duri & Veronica Cimolin, 2022. "Impact of the First Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Acquisition of Goods and Services in the Italian Health System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-17, February.
    17. Oren Miron & Yael Wolff Sagy & Shlomit Yaron & Noga Ramot & Gil Lavie, 2022. "Trends in the Volume and Types of Primary Care Visits during the Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Israel," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-11, August.
    18. Anna Nyberg & Kristiina Rajaleid & Ingrid Demmelmaier, 2022. "The Work Environment during Coronavirus Epidemics and Pandemics: A Systematic Review of Studies Using Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed-Methods Designs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-48, June.
    19. Xiuyu Chen & Longjun Jing & Huilin Wang & Jingyu Yang, 2022. "How Medical Staff Alleviates Job Burnout through Sports Involvement: The Mediating Roles of Health Anxiety and Self-Efficacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-12, September.
    20. Nelson Borges Amaral & Bin Chang & Rachel Burns, 2022. "Understanding consumer stockpiling: Insights provided during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(1), pages 211-236, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:6015-:d:568269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.