Pandemic-era burnout: Healthcare CIOs talk stress, and offer tips for a cure

For the latest in our series on burnout during the age of COVID-19, six hospital chief information officers discuss the daily stressors that push them toward exhaustion – and describe the strategies they use to manage their workloads. Chief information officers are under immense pressure every day. They must keep the central nervous system of a hospital or health system up and running at peak performance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That is not an easy task in the best of times.

Add to that all the demands of working through a deadly pandemic, with patient volumes increasing, information systems needing to be optimized (and often reconfigured for new clinical tasks) and much of a hospital’s IT workforce working remotely.

We spoke with six healthcare CIOs from across the country – New York to Hawaii – to learn how they’re managing these pressing demands on a day-to-day basis. They discuss the aspects of their jobs that cause them stress and can lead to burnout – but also offer plenty of actionable tips for their peers about how to combat stress and meet the challenges of a demanding job.