The authors featured in this issue all have conducted research related to work or provider’s perspectives. As this editorial is written we have been living for over two years in this pandemic. For more than two years, our lives have been impacted and disrupted by COVID-19. As an academic and as a mother of school aged children, I have reflected often in 2022 that the 2021-22 academic year was the hardest year of my teaching career, and undoubtably it was for my children’s teachers as well. Now we have transitioned to a time when life is still impacted, yet we are to go on as if it is not. I have witnessed their teachers struggle to give their all when they are already exhausted, trying to deal with social and emotional issues exacerbated by COVID-19, and going all in to make up for potential academic losses in students in 2020.
In 2020, when COVID-19 caused most of the world to halt and work from home there was a clear message that we were in unprecedented times and that we just needed to give one another grace and do the best that we could. In 2021-22 much of that grace, along with the patience of many, has seemed to have worn off. To further add to the anxiety and strain I am part of a high-risk family; for us no matter how tired we may be of masking and distancing we have to continue on in order to keep safe. The risk of infection is not one we can take. Administrators want us all back in the classroom, and it is not a place I and many like me feel safe returning. Being a parent has been hard; being a teacher has been hard. Truth be told, being an editor has been hard. I have heard directly from many of our reviewers and authors, who are academics and or practitioners themselves, about the tremendous stress and strain they are under – not to mention those that are sick with COVID-19 and dealing with the fallout professionally and personally. I am in crisis mode still. I am tired and burned out and trying to catch up still on all the things I had to let slide to survive. I know I am not alone in this.
All of this really hits home when I think about our focus in this issue: practitioners and work. Practitioners too are in crisis mode. Many practitioners have yet to experience a reprieve. Just as I struggle to play catch up with work, life tasks, rest, and mental health so do practitioners. Many hospital systems are overwhelmed in one or more ways seeing tremendous strains on their workforce. Nurses are leaving the workforce (American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Citation2021) just as teachers are. Violence against health care providers is at a high (Byon et al., Citation2021). Many hospitals are experiencing a financial crisis as the cost of travel nurses has severely impacted many hospital systems (Coleman-Lochner, Citation2021). I can’t imagine one facet of the health care institution, especially the providers, not severely impacted by COVID-19.
All of this comes at a great cost to providers, patients, and their families. While the authors featured in this issue do not focus on COVID-19, it is not difficult to imagine how the aspects they explored are even more complicated due to the pandemic. In order to continue to provide the best health care for women, it is our hope as editors that our authors and readers will continue to examine the workplace and provider perspectives.
As the Editor-in-Chief always reminds us: read and learn. She has provided a table of literature contributions to guide you. I’ll add to please give yourself grace and give those around you grace.
Managing Editor, Health Care for Women International
June 14, 2022 Eleanor Krassen Covan, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
June 14, 2022
References
- American Association of Critical Care Nurses. (2021). Hear us out campaign reports nurses’ COVID-19 reality. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.aacn.org/newsroom/hear-us-out-campaign-reports-nurses-covid-19-reality
- Byon, H. D., Sagherian, K., Kim, Y., Lipscomb, J., Crandall, M., & Steege, L. (2021). Nurses’ experience with type II workplace violence and underreporting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Workplace Health & Safety. https://doi.org/10.1177/21650799211031233
- Coleman-Lochner, L. (2021, December 21). U.S. hospitals pushed to financial ruin as nurses quit during pandemic. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-21/u-s-hospitals-pushed-to-financial-ruin-as-nurses-quit-en-masse