What the Public Can Do
The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on Addressing Health Worker Burnout highlights examples of how the public can promote health workforce wellbeing, including:
- Support workers' and learners’ mental health. Check in with friends and loved ones who are health workers to ask how they are doing, and listen to them with compassion. Know and pay attention to warning signs of mental health challenges, and learn about the resources available to support health workers who may be experiencing distress. As patients, show respect and kindness to health workers and always avoid harmful or threatening behaviors.
- Practice good public health. As the COVID-19 pandemic tragically taught, health systems can quickly become overwhelmed by public health emergencies and weak public health practices, exacerbating health workforce stress. Individuals can ease these stressors on the system by ensuring good public health and preventive care practices, including use of the tools available to our society to prevent and mitigate disease, like vaccines.
Beyond the broad strategies outlined above, members of the public also have access to a powerful tool for health systems change in the ballot box. Individuals can have a say in whether their elected officials reflect worker and patient-centered values by learning about elected officials’ and political candidates’ stances on health care and worker rights issues and participating in local, state, and national elections.
Resources
Support workers' and learners’ mental health
The U.S. Surgeon General’s Report Addressing Health Worker Burnout provides several resources for families and friends of health workers (p. 53) including:
- Resources for Families Coping With Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- Supporting a Family Member Who is a Health Care Worker from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) provides personal story sharing guides and a StigmaFree initiative for the public to use to help destigmatize mental health.
Practice good public health
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides prevention and health promotion guidance for COVID-19, vaccines and immunizations, nutrition, cancer, and dozens of other health topics.
Get civically engaged
The American Public Health Association provides a Vote for Health toolkit that includes links to register to vote, local opportunities to get involved in elections, and a webinar on why voting matters for health. Ballotpedia includes a Healthcare on the Ballot page, which contains information about statewide ballot measures regarding healthcare policies.
