Jaimie OlsonBurnout Among Health Professionals

“If constant stress has you feeling helpless, disillusioned, and completley exhausted you may be suffering from burnout. When you’re burned out, problems seem insurmountable, everything looks bleak, and it’s difficult to muster up the energy to care- let alone do something about your situation” (Burnout Prevention and Recovery).

The emotionally exhausted clinician is overwhelmed by work to the point of feeling fatigued, unable to face the demands of the job and is unable to engage with others.

This might develop a sense of cynical detachment from work and people in general.

The growing prevalence of burnout syndrome among health care personnel has gained attention as a potential threat to health care quality and patient safety

Characteristics of the health care environment include:1.Time pressure2.Lack of control over work processes3.Role conflict4.Poor relationships between groups5.Poor leadership, combined with personal

predisposing factors

Burnout ranges:10-70% among nurses30-50% among physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

A study done by the Mayo Clinic, in partnership with the American Medical Association, found more than half of American physicians now at least have one sign of burnout. This is a 9% increase from the group’s prior results in a study conducted 3 years prior.

This is vital because it is a threat to patient safety because depersonalization is presumed to result in poorer interactions with patients.

Clinicians with burnout are more ikely to subjectively rate patient safety lower in their organizations and to admit to having made mistakes / substandard care at work.

The American Medical Association and the Mayo Clinic have highlighted burnout as a priority.

This Annual Perspective summarizes studies published in 2015, with a focus on the relationship between burnout and patient safety, and interventions to adress brunout among clinicians.

Most of these studies have been self-reported by health care workers because they have felt that their perceptions of work have effected patient safety.

There are numerous factors that communication contributes to burnout in the health care field.

Communicative interactions contribute to an individuals workload

Communication can also influence the experiencee of role conflict and role ambiguity.

“Graen’s Model describes the ways in which supervisor-subordinate interaction helps to define expectations as an individual learns about the job and the organization. If communication in this crucial stage of socialization is inadequate, role conflict and role ambiguity are likely to result” (Miller, Katherine).

Emotional Labor in burnout is a crucial factor.

The jobs in the health care field require passion for the job, caring for patients and caring for those around you

Hochschield’s original development suggests that workers that are involved in emotional labor are high risk to serious psychological risk. This includes showing emotions that are not actually felt.

Morris and Feldman called this “emotional dissonance” and this is one of the major factors leading to negative consequences such as burnout and job dissatisfaction.

Another area of concentration for burnout linking to communication is natural emotions.

Miller, Stiff and Ellis explored the role of emotion communication and burnout by testing a theory.

They noted that individuals often chose occupations like Health care, social work, etc. because they are “people orientated” and have a high degree of empathy for others.

Miller and colleagues then drew a conclusion between two kinds of empathy, Emotional contagion and Empathic concern.

Emotional Contagion is a affective response in which the observer experiences emotional parallel to those of another person.

Empathic Concern is which the observer has a nonparallel emotional response.

These two dimensions of empathy influence the communication of human service workers because the empathic concern should help the employee communication effectively whereas emotional contagion should hinder effective interaction.

Looking at those that have suffered from burnout, Miller and colleagues state that they would be less emotional towards their patients compared to those who have not suffered from burnout.

Emotional communication in the workplace can be detrimental but only under certain conditions, especially when the caregiver feels for the client and communications because of those feelings.

Detached concern is another area for concern when it comes to client patient interactions.

When health care providers detach their emotional side of their job, this can affect their emotional involvement.

Many scholars have become concerned from the danger of health care providers being “too detached” from their patients.

Experts have recommended that physicians can combat this by engaging in the more genuine empathy embodied in the processes of deep acting.

What you can do:

1.Put a priority on face-to-face social contact with supportive people

2.Set a time each day when you completely disconnect from technology

3.Move your body frequently- don’t sit for more than an hour

4.Make laughter and play a priority 5.Reduce your intake of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine6.Get all the restful sleep that you need to feel your

best

Folk man, Lazarus, Gruen and DeLongis have identified three ways of coping:

1. Problem Centered Coping- involves dealing directly with the causes of burnout

2. Appraisal Centered Coping- involves changing the way one thinks about the stressful situation

3. Emotion-centered Coping- involves dealing with the negative affective outcomes of burnout.

Reducing “Burnout” feelings from the workplace can be done.

Socialization programs can be designed to enhance the clarity of employee role definitions.

Workloads can be carefully monitored and controlled by the leaders of the organization

Workers that are working long hours or have many projects at one time can be granted “time outs” where they can take a moment to regroup and to relax before going back to work.

The conflict between work and home can be difficult for some people. Some things that have been done are,On site day care, flextime and working at home.

Participating in decision making in the workplace when you are experiencing burnout can be difficult.

Participation and the feeling of inclusion have decreased burnout in the health care field.

“Employees who had an opportunity to participate in decisions experienced lower levels of strain and fewer intentions to leave their jobs” (Miller).

With including everyone in decision making, this would help the company in the long-term with the health and the happiness of all of their workers.

“More accurate knowledge of the formal and informal expectations held by others for the worker and for the organization as a whole”

One of the biggest causes of burnout is Stress. Actually knowing what is expected of you and what is going on in the company can prevent this.

Social support is one of the biggest things that can help burnout in the health care field.

Social support from family and friends in the workplace can prevent burnout.

Knowing that the people around you are encouraging you and supporting you with your tasks can be beneficial for both parties involved.

Coping with job related stress can be a lot for just one person, but if that person has someone that they can talk to this could help with the stress that the person would have.

“Emotional support might involve a message that boosts another's self-esteem ‘I know you’re bright enough to do well on the test’ message that indicates unconditional regard” (Miller).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3FZDHVHYjM

QUESTIONS

1.What things can health care providers do to prevent burnout?

2.If one sees a colleague suffering from burnout, what can he/she do to help that person out?

3.When communication happens between a patient and a provider, what things happen that can cause burnout?

QUESTIONS

4. What kinds of programs have been formed to help coworkers that are dealing with symptoms of burnout?

5. When it comes to decision making, what kinds of things can the leaders of organizations do to help the workers that are lower than them?

6. With improvements in the health care field to help health care providers, what other problems can be fixed related to burnout?

WORK CITED

"Burnout Among Health Professionals and Its Effect on Patient Safety." PSNet: Patient Safety Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

"Burnout Prevention and Recovery." Burnout Prevention and Recovery: Signs, Symptoms, and Coping Strategies for Mental Exhaustion. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

Miller, Katherine. Organizational Communication Approaches and Processes. 7th ed. N.p.: Cengage Learning, n.d. Print.

YouTube. Physician Burn-Out - The Silent Epidemic. YouTube, 09 May 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.