Many physicians and nurses have reported a steep decline in revenue. A few weeks into the pandemic, the Medical Group Management Association conducted a survey which resulted in a negative financial effect by 97% within 724 medical practices it conducted. 

62% of U.S. doctors stated that their income had dropped during COVID-19 compared to 31% of doctors in Spain, 41% of doctors in France and 63% of doctors in Brazil that stated similar effects. Nearly 50% of the doctors had indicated that they had their salary cut by 50% as recorded by FierceHealthcare. Many healthcare workers have claimed that they have experienced overwhelming stress and workload during the pandemic. 65% of U.S. physicians said their workload has been intense during the pandemic, while 6% said their burnout had gotten less intense and 30% said there has been no change. MD, MSPH, Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Greer A. Burkholder told Contagion® “Early in the US pandemic, I noted the distress physicians expressed on social media and among work colleagues.” At that time, there wasn’t much in the academic literature regarding the impact of the pandemic on US healthcare workers. “Healthcare workers are in an unprecedented situation and I think it is important we study the effects of the pandemic on physicians and other healthcare workers in a systematic way.” Burkholder shows the drastic effects the pandemic has had on the medical field with most of them being placed in unwanted situations financially. 

Among the workloads, many nurses and doctors were forced to work overtime with many new roles and responsibilities since the start of the pandemic. With as many as 52,000 patients on average per month, doctors were uncompensated as there was an adverse economic effect on the healthcare industry due to the pandemic. With many physicians struggling severely through the pandemic, some have turned to GoFundMe which is an American for-profit crowdfunding campaign where anyone in need can start an account to receive funding. Glynis Thakur, a business consultant based in Bellevue, Washington, who works with physician practitioners noted that many people have lost their jobs and, as a result, their health insurance is not being paid. This was mainly because of the pandemic as Thakur concluded “It’s not going back to normal any time soon.” 

 Along with receiving less compensation, physicians are also at high risk of COVID-19. A self reported assessment conducted by PubMed found 284 out of 552 nurses to be at high risk (51.4%). The assessment states that the study provided a strong message regarding protecting nurses at high risk for exposure to COVID-19. Clinical leaders must stay vigilant to ensure nurses’ adherence to ICP practices in the context of COVID-19 and proactively address any related deficits. 

Since working as a physician during the pandemic can be mentally taxing, many nurses have reported to suffer from mental health related issues by working thirteen hour shifts for six days straight. According to Inside, a nurse, Savannah, claims that working is “exhausting” as she hates to think that she could be the last face patients will ever see before meeting their fate. “I just want to make sure that families get to talk to their loved ones and that people can get to say everything that they need to say.” Savannah was emotional at work as she recalled a patient dying moments before. “I just said that everything would be alright and not to be scared.”  Savannah continues to work as a healthcare nurse but prays for moments like these to never happen again. 

Overall, since the release of Pfizer, Moderna, and the J&J Vaccines, the number of deaths has gradually decreased relieving a lot of healthcare workers from their workload of stress. Many healthcare workers express their hopes for things to go back to normal soon!