mHealth Program Aims to Address Pandemic Stress, Burnout in Nurses
The mHealth platform offers positive affirmation and support resources via text messages to nurses who have experienced heightened stress from working during the pandemic.
The American Nurses Foundation has expanded an mHealth text messaging program aimed at providing stressed nurses with positive affirmation and support resources.
This announcement follows the completion of a successful pilot program by the Arizona Nurses Association, which launched the connected health service in August 2020 to help nurses struggling with pandemic-related mental health concerns. The pilot involved some 4,000 nurses, 75 percent of whom worked in direct patient care and 60 percent of whom worked with COVID-19 patients.
Based on those results, the national organization is expanding the program to 16 states.
“Nurses are leaving the profession,” Dawn Cato, chief executive officer of the Arizona Nurses Association, said in a press release. “They are experiencing psychological distress from watching their patients die day after day.”
The organization is partnering with SlickText, whose mHealth platform provides resources on topics that include managing grief and loss, breathing and mindfulness, going-home checklists, moral distress information, sleeping and eating wellness, and self-compassion breaks. Nurses can opt to receive those messages on their smartphones.
“It’s important for these nurses to know that we and other nursing associations care about them and understand what they’re going through. We are out there providing resources,” Cato said.
Aside from the staggering number of deaths and sick patients, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacted its toll on healthcare providers as well, leading to surges in stress, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, burnout, and suicides.
To take on this issue, hospitals and health systems are turning to telehealth and mHealth to give their providers on-demand access to resources, including virtual telemental health visits, peer groups, and advice on coping and stress reduction.
Along with those resources, the SlickText program also sends out supportive text messages.
“The participants responded well to texts that reminded them they weren’t alone and we were there to support them,” Wendy Knefelkamp, director of operations for the Arizona Nurses Association, said in the press release.
According to officials, 86 percent of nurses who participated in the pilot program said they found the mHealth messages useful for improving their well-being.
mHealth text messaging programs can provide potential solutions to addressing the stress and burnout nurses are facing during the pandemic. A telehealth program provided similar support to teachers, another group of workers whose mental health has been significantly impacted during these times.
Other health systems have used mHealth applications to assist healthcare providers in different ways. For example, Boston Medical Center launched an mHealth app that offers clinical resources for providers treating patients with opioid use disorder, substance abuse issues, and patients living with chronic pain.