The Emotional PPE Project: Improving care team members’ access to mental and emotional health resources – Daniel Saddawi-Konefka, MD, MBA

Episode 111 | Duration: 27:23

When healthcare workers are at risk of exposure to potential harm from pathogens, radiation or other environmental toxins, employing personal protective equipment, or PPE, to create physical barriers against harm is standard practice. The shortages of masks and respirators during the pandemic made it clear that failure to adequately protect healthcare workers can break professional and social contracts, resulting in loss of trust and loss of care team members leaving their healing professions. And these risks are in addition to the potential mental and emotional harm in which clinicians and other team members are exposed to working in healthcare environments.

Daniel Saddawi-Konefka, MD, MBA, is part of a growing group of clinicians and advocates who argue that emotional PPE is every bit as important as physical PPE. In this episode of Caring Greatly, Dan shares why clinicians need and deserve access to emotional and mental health support without fear of judgement. He explains how The Emotional PPE Project aims to shift the culture of healthcare towards one that normalizes self-care and recognizes that illness doesn’t necessarily equate to impairment, while also lowering the logistical barriers for seeking help. 

Dan is an anesthesiologist and intensivist whose work centers on helping clinicians grow, perform and stay well. He is Associate Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Program Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Anesthesiology Residency. In 2020 he co-founded The Emotional PPE Project, a national nonprofit that has connected thousands of healthcare workers to free, confidential mental health care and helped drive medical-licensing reform in 14 states. His research, grounded in cognitive psychology and educational theory, focuses on intrinsic motivation, self-regulation, feedback, and the barriers that keep healthcare workers from seeking the support they need. He holds an MD and MBA from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Daniel Saddawi-Konefka is a leader who cares greatly.

Related links:

• Website: The Emotional PPE Project 
• JAMA: Reducing Barriers to Mental Health Care for Physicians: An Overview and Strategic Recommendations (subscription required)
• JAMA Network Open: Mental Health Questions on State Medical License Applications and Evaluation of Updates