Welcome to the RCSI Hospital Group COVID-19 Staff Support Hub.

If you have opened this hub, chances are that you are searching out some kind of support – for yourself, a family member, a friend, a colleague – to help get through the COVID-19 crisis that has disturbed the entire world.

By now, we have all heard how COVID-19 has irrevocably changed the lives of Ireland’s health care workers; how the challenges of the pandemic are unprecedented; how the impact on our professional and personal lives is immense; how feelings of fear can become overwhelming leading to heightened levels of anxiety, panic, sadness, guilt and anger- strong feelings that have the capacity to affect our mental and physical wellbeing.

There has been a tsunami of resource material offered to the public since the onset of COVID-19. While there are many positives aspects to this, the choice of material can be overwhelming and the material offered may be unregulated, nonvalidated and conflicting. Trying to navigate oneself around the information ‘out there’ can cause yet another layer of overload and confusion to an already highly stressful situation.

So you might well ask ‘what has this hub to offer me that I haven’t already seen somewhere else’?

The purpose of this portal is to have a simple and easily navigable repository of COVID support information tailored to the needs of the RCSI Hospital Group staff. The material has been gathered with the entire hospital staff community in mind -both operational staff and those at the forefront of clinical care.

This resource hub provides a collection of succinct support material. This material:

• is evidenced-based, accurate and reliable
• is short and focused
• is endorsed by trusted bodies such as the RCSI, RCPI, HSE etc.
• includes a clinical data link, that is reputable and up-to-date and will enable you to keep abreast with the ever changing clinical situation

Five Support Resources are included:

1. Wellbeing and resilience
2. Communications during challenging time
3. Leadership
4. Evidence-based clinical Information
5. Moments of Inspiration

Managing the COVID-19 crisis is an evolving and often rapidly changing situation during which it is natural to feel anxious, worried and confused. However, the spread of the virus will decline and the burdens on our health care staff will eventually ease. Until then, as things evolve, our emotional needs will change. This resource will therefore be frequently updated and reviewed to optimise accurate and verified knowledge and emotional support for the RCSI staff.

We would like to extend a special thanks to the RCSI, the Hospital Group’s Academic partner, who facilitated access to a number of support resources.