The Soaring Need to Support Mental Health for Healthcare Workers

Julie O’Brien
Director, Product Marketing, Customer Experience

Mental health needs have always been disproportionately high for healthcare workers, but the strain of COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem. The effect of the pandemic on mental health is predicted to be chronic and pervasive, with evidence indicating that more than two-thirds of frontline healthcare workers will experience psychiatric symptoms, including post-traumatic stress, acute anxiety, substance use, depression, and suicide.

Recognizing this critical need, Penn Medicine has launched a new digital platform to offer immediate access to mental health support resources for their staff. We are excited to have members of that team lead the CE-accredited session “Tackling the Soaring Need for Innovative Mental Health Support Strategies for Healthcare Workers” at the upcoming Omnicell Illuminate 2021 virtual event. 

Health systems need scalable methods to identify vulnerable individuals and connect them to the resources they need, and in this session you’ll learn how you can help. Penn Medicine’s Senior Vice Dean for Academic Affairs Lisa Bellini; Senior Innovation Manager and Director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation Kelley Kugler; and Director of Pharmacy and IV Services Matthew Eberts, PharmD, will share how Penn Medicine quickly developed and launched a web and mobile platform called COBALT, which is a “digital front door to mental health support.”   The tool provides their staff immediate access to HIPAA-compliant mental healthcare, including appointments with resilience coaches, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists, as well as more than 150 curated support resources including podcasts, articles, mindfulness sessions, and more. Features of the easy-to-use platform include:

• All one-on-one resources are housed in one place
• Facilitated group sessions respond to current needs and are available by request
• Self-directed content is tailored to specific needs and contributed by employees

The tool has been a huge success. Since the launch, approximately 10,000 employees (roughly one in four) have accessed the platform for content or one-on-one support sessions, offering critical crisis intervention resources for those most at risk and in need.

Join us on Tuesday, October 5 at 1:00 p.m. PDT/4:00 p.m. EDT to hear more about Penn Medicine’s incredible success story and learn how to identify ways to take action to increase and expand your health system’s mental health support efforts. Register today.