
‘CopeColumbia’ to address medical staff burnout in Covid work stress
CopeColumbia, a virtual program intended to address medical staff burnout and fatigue, launched with an emphasis on prevention and promotion of resilience, is found to be highly beneficial to health care workers with significant job-related stress after a long and acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme developed by a team of faculty members in the CUIMC department of psychiatry, in collaboration with Columbia Doctors and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, consists of 1:1 peer support to overcome the pademic work stress, including increased workload, changing duties, redeployment, shortage of medical supplies, concerns about insufficient personal protective equipment, lack of safety at work, absence of effective treatment protocols, inconsistent organisational support and information and misinformation from hospital management, and witnessing intense pain, isolation, and loss on a daily basis with few opportunities to take breaks.