Whakaari eruption's emotional impact on health workers

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-02-14 00:01

New Zealand

Photo by Vladimir Fedotov on Unsplash

Major disasters and mass casualty events like the 2019 eruption of Whakaari have a significant and lasting impact on healthcare workers' wellbeing. Discussions with burns and theatre professionals revealed exhaustion and emotional distress while treating patients from the eruption, and a continuing emotional impact several years later. This was exacerbated by systemic issues, including the COVID pandemic reaching New Zealand immediately afterwards, meaning health workers had to continue working under pressure without enough resources. The researchers suggest that health organisations provide protected work time for counselling after mass casualty events, and say their findings raise questions about how to support health professionals' wellbeing.

Media release

From: Pasifika Medical Association Group

Healthcare organisations can anticipate deep psychological effects on healthcare workers after a mass casualty event. This study examined the emotional experiences of burns and theatre healthcare workers caring for injured patients following New Zealand’s Whakaari/White Island volcanic eruption in 2019 at Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau, based in Auckland, New Zealand.

Staff reckoned and wrestled with the aftermath of the disaster with collective emotional after-effects, and there was cumulative harm amidst healthcare system constraints. Opportunities for emotional processing may counter stoic medical culture, especially for staff who are recurrently exposed to trauma.

Journal/
conference: New Zealand Medical Journal

Organisation/s: University of Auckland, Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand

Funder: The researchers received funding from a Counties Manukau Health Tupu Award (Number 1326).

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