Health care workers are at increased risk of emotional distress during a health crisis because they shoulder the burden of the public’s trauma as well as their own. Unfortunately, mental health services for health care workers during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic are often insufficient and more research is needed to understand what strategies were used to address the mental health needs of health care workers during the pandemic.

This article describes a review of the literature regarding the mental health needs of health care workers including what policies were implemented to address these needs during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic,. and proposes strategies for meeting the mental health needs of health care workers in the future.