Healing the Healer: Stress and Coping Strategies in the Field of Temporary Medical Work

Abstract

Temporary medical workers provide a vital role for the medical profession. These individuals, however, occupy a unique work arrangement as professional-specific temporary workers. Temporary medical workers often find themselves bearing the burdens of both medical workers and temporary workers. In partnership with the largest medical temporary agency in the United States, we content analyzed the responses of 86 medical temporary workers, geared at uncovering the primary stressors and coping strategies this sample enacted. Our findings concluded that temporary medical workers experienced stressors associated with both their medical and temporary roles, although more stressors were associated with temporary work than with medical care. Participants also relied heavily on coping strategies that allowed them to avoid these stressors.