Page 86 - Postmortem-findings-in-COVID-19-patients-and-mental-health-issues-in-the-era-of-COVID-19

1. What is your specific message/advice/tips to

our leaders/HOD can do to help in mental health

well-being among healthcare workers?

Dr Ravi:

The more important thing is that leaders themselves can get affected, and we are also
expected to carry a lot of roles. So, I think, getting yourself supported is important.
Working in a ‘Buddy System’ is quite useful (i.e. two people leading a team, if one

needs a break, he or she can pass it on to the next person). Important to practise self-
care.

Leaders could also talk to other leaders to get ideas on how to cope with this
pandemic, including sharing their best practices.

Another thing that could be done and was practised by the Mental Health
Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) team in Hospital Miri is that they met with the leaders

and thought of a “HACK” session with them. Discussions are held to understand the
difficulties faced by the leaders and to empower them with skills.

The best thing that any leader could do is to listen to everything that is happening on
the ground; to see the challenges and to build rapport with the other staff members so
that the staff members would not be afraid to approach the leader when they face any

problems. Let’s say you are leading the outpatient clinic, you need to actually step into
the clinic once in a while. As a leader, even if a problem could not be solved, working

together would be beneficial.