Best Practices for Handling Staff Emotional Health During the Pandemic

A panel of healthcare leaders discussed keys to handling employees’ emotional health and combating burnout during a September 10 session at the Becker’s Clinical Leadership Virtual Event. Panelists included:

• Denise Mihal, executive vice president and chief nursing and clinical operations officer at Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health 
• Emily Volk, MD, senior vice president of clinical services at San Antonio-based University Health System 
• Keith Fernandez, MD, chief clinical officer at Arlington, Va.-based Privia Health

Communication and providing resiliency programs are both major suggestions to maintain morale amongst staff. “Communication is absolutely critical. And we did that through numerous different channels — in-person communication, Zoom meetings, written communications and email communications to our staff and medical faculty,” Dr. Volk commented.