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PTSD: National Center for PTSD

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Health Care Workers and Responders

 

Health Care Workers and Responders

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For Health Care Workers and Responders

For those working in health care during the pandemic—including mental health providers and first responders—managing patients and self-care includes challenges. There are strategies to support patients affected by COVID-19 and those in treatment for PTSD, as well as evidence-based models to foster peer support and self-care.

Providing care during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Managing self-care

Useful disaster response frameworks

  • Stress First Aid (SFA)
    Stress First Aid (SFA) is a framework to improve recovery from stress reactions, both in oneself and in coworkers. The goal of SFA is to identify stress reactions along a stress continuum and to help reduce the likelihood that stress outcomes develop into more severe or long-term problems using core actions appropriate for self-care and coworker support. Training materials are available.
  • Psychological First Aid (PFA)
    An evidence-informed modular approach for assisting people in the immediate aftermath of disaster. The PFA Mobile app can assist responders.
  • Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR)
    Intended to follow PFA in the weeks and months following disaster events. A free, online SPR Course is also available.

Additional resources and helpful organizations

  • PTSD Consultation Program
    If you are a provider, free consultation is available about treating stress reactions that may arise among any of your patients affected by COVID-19. The expert clinicians in the PTSD Consultation Program are providing this service in addition to their usual consultation about anything related to treating Veterans with PTSD.
  • COVID-19 Exposure Scale
    A 28-item self-report measure designed to assess potentially traumatic exposures related to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
  • VA's Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response
    Information to support Veterans more broadly is available on VA's COVID-19 Response page.
  • LitCovid Research Literature
    Find relevant Coronavirus (COVID-19) research articles via the LitCovid curated research literature hub using PubMed.

Many professional organizations that support mental health care providers are offering practical support resources for COVID-19.

PTSD Information Voice Mail: (802) 296-6300
Email: ncptsd@va.gov
Also see: VA Mental Health