Accredited exercise physiologist Jaclyn Murphy has been missing face-to-face interactions with her clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She has been based in Melbourne at Up Well Health collective and described the recent pandemic as confronting.
"It's been really challenging having to wear PPE, face masks and face shields and adapting the way we do things with clients," she said.
"Definitely feeling really tired and fatigued at the end of the day, definitely moreso than we normally would and definitely quite stressed and overwhelmed at times too."
Joint research announced this week will examine how well workplaces were prepared for and responded to the risks in order to protect staff from harm during the COVID-19 crisis.
The research will involve Monash University, Cabrini Health, Ambulance Victoria and the Alfred hospital.
More than 1500 workers including hospital staff, first responders, primary care and aged care workers along with participants from other health sectors will be recruited.
Professor Karin Leder, an infectious disease physician from Monash University, said every health sector has had to implement some workplace changes during the coronavirus pandemic.
"There is a fair amount of news already on the impacts on hospital workers, ambulance workers,aged care workers and on GPs, in every sector there has been enormous impacts," she said.
Professor Leder said it's important to monitor this stressful period to understand workers' psychological health.
The study will focus on Victorians for 12 months.
"I think that there are lots of learnings that may be translatable nationally but I also think we know, health care systems work differently in different jurisdictions therefore I think there would be definite merit in looking across jurisdictions," Professor Leder said.
Fatigue, stress and infection risk
There have been reports healthcare workers around the world are suffering from stress, exhaustion and the risk of contagion in hospitals.
Images of staff with bruised faces from wearing protective shields and other personal equipment have become a powerful visual of the pandemic.
Staff will be questioned as part of the study and researchers will also talk to workplaces about what systems they have in place.
"There has been some cases of missing and inadequate personal protective equipment," Victoria's Workplace Safety Minister Jill Hennessy said on Thursday.
Medical workers wearing a face mask holds a 'Stay at Home' poster at a medical center in Jakarta, Indonesia. Source: AAP
"There has been examples and there is surveillance occurring of failing to maintain social distancing, in some of those workplaces and in some circumstances inadequate hygiene controls."
Ms Hennessy said there have been almost 300 workcover claims related to mental health and all have been accepted.
"But more generally there are about 30 Worksafe investigations on foot at this point in time," she said.
"Some of those may relate to corona but also health and also other occupational health safety breaches."
Victorian government data from this month showed more than 3000 heatlhcare workers have become infected with coronavirus.
But the Victorian government revealed patient demand has dropped in some health areas such as cancer screening.
Emergency presentations were down in Victoria last month and the Health Minister Jenny Mikakos has reminded patients that hospitals are safe.
Beyond the physical harm of becoming infected with coronavirus, psychological issues for staff were also a concern.
An online consultation with a psychologists through phone or video chats can be available for patients. Source: Supplied
Psychology Lecturer Dan Fassnacht from Flinders University said healthcare workers can be more prone to mental issues compared to the wider community.
"Especially you know when you work in a high stress environment, and then sometimes you know looking after yourself in terms of self-care is really neglected," he said.
"And that is not only true for healthcare workers, that's actually true for a lot of other professions as well."
He said based on past pandemics, a strong negative effect is likely to emerge for heath care workers but prevention can minimise the damage.
"No one really knows what is going to happen in the next couple of months so I think we do have, we should consider to have some of these more preventative strategies in place because then we are prepare people not only for a pandemic but also other some more personal challenges they go through in their personal lives," he said.
It's hoped the study will be finished in September next year.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your state’s restrictions on gathering limits.
If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, stay home and arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
