Why Ghana’s Medical Personnel Need Therapy Too
On an interesting phone call with one of my mentors, who happens to be a nurse, she made a comment that strongly affected me. She pointed out that midwives Read More... The post Why Ghana’s Medical Personnel Need Therapy Too appeared first on DailyGuide Network .
Ghana's medical professionals require therapeutic support as well, according to a nurse who shared a thought-provoking perspective with a reporter. The nurse observed that midwives frequently come across as stern when addressing patients with ordinary concerns, such as headaches. This attitude is likely due to the fact that midwives, whose careers are centered around the pain of childbirth, may perceive less severe issues as trivial in comparison.
This observation underscores a critical issue within Ghana's healthcare system: the necessity for those who treat the ill to receive care themselves. This issue is not unique to Ghana, as research has shown that caregivers who repeatedly witness other people's pain and trauma can experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced job satisfaction due to chronic stress.
Two related effects, burnout and compassion fatigue, result from prolonged emotional involvement with others' suffering. A study involving doctors found that more experienced physicians assessed patients' pain as less severe than less experienced peers did, potentially due to years of practice. A UK study revealed that around one-third of midwives who experienced traumatic childbirth events met the criteria for PTSD.
In Ghana, a study of 365 health workers at 12 major healthcare facilities in Accra found that nearly one in five were experiencing a crisis or were burned out. The impact of burnout is linked to occupation, length of service, marital status, and having children, with the effects increasing with both work exposure and personal responsibilities.
Despite the COVID-19 crisis, healthcare workers in Accra reported considerable stress, burnout, and feelings of fear, anger, and depression while maintaining compassion for patients. Ghana has a substantial shortage of mental health professionals, with only 39 psychiatrists and 244 psychologists serving over 3,300 doctors and 84,000 nurses and midwives.
This lack of support contributes to the high turnover rates among exhausted healthcare workers, worsening the already significant staffing shortages in Ghana. To address this issue, mental health services in Ghana should be more accessible and structured, including routine counseling and specialized training to identify and address compassion fatigue.
Written by urgent.news from Daily Guide Network's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
