key: cord-0735007-9l71o14y
authors: Stoeklé, Henri‐Corto; Ackermann, Félix; Beuzeboc, Philippe; Hervé, Christian
title: Vaccine refusal and burnout: Hospitals need “emergency multidisciplinary team meetings”
date: 2022-03-29
journal: J Eval Clin Pract
DOI: 10.1111/jep.13676
sha: 65b9e9152b21593b391e2edc49b9a07bebe57d33
doc_id: 735007
cord_uid: 9l71o14y

nan

pandemic simply add to the existing issues. 2 For too long, the number of healthcare workers and the means attributed to hospitals have been decreasing, especially in France, and this has become a matter of major concern. 3 When healthcare workers are excluded from the establishments at which they work because they refuse anti-COVID-19 vaccination, or they resign due to burnout, their workload is shifted onto those who remain, who are often already overloaded due to staff shortages.

The causes of this problem predate the COVID-19 pandemic. 4 Indeed, for various complex reasons, many hospitals in western countries, including France, now rationalize clinical activity as an economic optimization of stocks and flows, of healthcare workers and patients in particular. 5, 6 The problem is that we quickly forget that society should consider healthcare as an investment rather than an expense, whatever the political organization or culture of the society concerned. The savings made by economic optimization entail a risk of significant effects on the survival and quality of life of patients in the long term, and on society itself. These consequences would be unacceptable from a bioethical point of view. 1 Furthermore, we seem to be moving from an 'acute' phase of the pandemic to a relatively 'chronic' phase. The relative shortage of healthcare providers should, therefore, lead to a reconsideration of the transfer of skills and responsibilities between medical and paramedical staff. 7 We also need to focus on communication strategies, if only with respect to the vaccination of vulnerable populations, particularly patients and healthcare workers who are still reluctant to get vaccinated, potentially leading to their social isolation and even the stirrings of local insurrection. 2, 8 The mission of emergency MTMs is, thus, to counter excessive emotions, or extreme moral and political convictions, through the expertise of human and social scientists, empirical and interdisciplinary research in bioethics and medical ethics, and true ethics of discussion. The aim is to develop a more altruistic spirit toward healthcare workers and patients, and a more responsible mindset among healthcare policymakers, thereby laying the foundations for a new paradigm in health.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Hospital: the contribution of bioethics. Médecine de Catastrophe-Urgences Collectives

Attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine and willingness to get vaccinated among healthcare workers in french Guiana: the influence of geographical origin

Admission criteria and management of critical care patients in a pandemic context: position of the Ethics Commission of the French Intensive Care Society, update of

Reforms and sanitary covid crisis: have spatial inequalities in resuscitation beds increased since 2008? Revue francophone sur la santé et les territoires

Facing the COVID-19 pandemic in France: from managerialism to business logistics

France's response to the Covid-19 pandemic: between a rock and a hard place

The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, a step towards recognizing the speciality of critical care nursing in France

COVID-19 and homelessness: when crises intersect

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

All authors contributed equally to the writing of the manuscript.

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.Henri-Corto Stoeklé 1 Félix Ackermann 2