The Robust Futures Survey: Analysis of New York City Frontline COVID-19 Healthcare Providers’ Wellbeing

Background The COVID-19 pandemic uncovered vulnerabilities of health systems in the United States. Healthcare providers in New York City experienced immense strain as case numbers rose quickly and severely early in the pandemic. Healthcare provider wellbeing is still not well understood, and gaps remain in understanding how wellbeing is affected by aspects of healthcare providers’ work. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess the experiences of healthcare providers in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary outcome, wellbeing, was assessed through instruments to measure COVID-19-specific anxiety and hope, while the main exposures included exposure to frontline work, amount of infection prevention and control training received, and amount of COVID-19-specific training received. Bivariate analyses and logistic regression were used to determine the main effects between covariates and outcomes. Results 300 healthcare providers’ survey responses contributed to the analysis between February and March 2021. Most participants reported not having COVID-19-specific anxiety and high levels of hope. Those who reported living with a partner or family member during the pandemic had lower odds of experiencing COVID-19-specific anxiety compared with those living alone. Participants reporting moderate to high levels of infection prevention and control training received had higher odds of having high levels of hope compared with those receiving little to no infection prevention and control training. Conclusions Our findings provide targeted areas for practical interventions to improve healthcare provider support, especially during times of extreme stress on the healthcare system. Prioritization of health workforce safety through infection prevention training will allow for better overall pandemic preparedness and response and appears to improve hopefulness amongst healthcare providers.