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Showing results for tags 'Stress'.
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News Article
COVID-19: 'Traumatised' hospital staff need time to recover
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
"Traumatised" and "exhausted" medical staff need time to recover before tackling an NHS backlog, says the group representing hospitals in England. Many staff could resign if their wellbeing is not factored into plans to cut waiting lists, NHS Providers said. The number of people waiting more than a year for surgery rose 1,613 to 192,000 during the Covid pandemic. NHS Providers said demand for hospital beds is easing, but the pressure on intensive care units is still intense. NHS Providers estimates that it is going to be at least a month before the NHS gets back to normal winter pressures, and trusts are concerned about the transition into the next phase of the pandemic. Critical work that has been postponed, including a small number of urgent cancer cases, will be a priority, but there remains a need to tackle a wider backlog of routine operations alongside the vaccination programme. NHS Providers said trusts will work as fast as possible to tackle the backlog, but leaders cannot do so at the expense of staff burnout. Last month, a study suggested that many hospital staff treating the sickest patients during the first wave of the pandemic were left traumatised by the experience. Nearly half reported symptoms of severe anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or problem drinking. One in seven had thoughts of self-harming or being "better off dead". Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 February 2021 -
News ArticleThe second wave of COVID-19 has put doctors under huge pressure, the Royal College of Physicians has warned, as two thirds of physicians report feeling tired or exhausted. A survey of 25 500 members of the college from across the UK, conducted on 2 November, received 1890 responses. It found that two thirds (64%, 931) felt tired or exhausted, 48% (687) felt worried, and just under a third (29%, 424) felt demoralised. Almost a fifth (19%, 280) said they have sought informal mental health support, such as speaking to colleagues or friends, during the pandemic. Just 10% (155) said they had sought formal mental health support from either their employer, GP, or external services. College president Andrew Goddard said he was concerned about the mental health of doctors, “There is no way to dress it up—it is pretty awful at the moment in the world of medicine. Hospital admissions are at the highest ever level, staff are exhausted, and although there is light at the end of the tunnel, it seems a long way away.” He said that before the pandemic, few physicians would have expected to need formal mental health support during their career. After the pandemic, staff will be in desperate need of a break, Goddard said, and will need specific time away if they’re to be at their best. “Doctors have demonstrated remarkable resilience throughout the pandemic, working under the most challenging conditions the NHS has ever faced, but they can’t continue working this way forever,” he said. Read full story Source: The BMJ, 21 January 2021
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News Article
NHS staff left traumatised by first Covid wave
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Many hospital staff treating the sickest patients during the first wave of the pandemic were left traumatised by the experience, a study suggests. Researchers at King's College London asked 709 workers at nine intensive care units in England about how they were coping as the first wave eased. Nearly half reported symptoms of severe anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or problem drinking. One in seven had thoughts of self-harming or being "better off dead". Nursing staff were more likely to report feelings of distress than doctors or other clinical staff in the anonymous web-based survey, which was carried out in June and July last year. Just over half reported good well-being. Victoria Sullivan, an intensive care nurse at Queen's Hospital in Romford, said she often can't sleep because she's thinking about what is happening at the hospital. Her worst moment was breaking the news of a death on the phone, she said, adding that the screams from the patient's relatives "will honestly stay with me forever". "Telling someone over the phone and all you can say is 'I'm really sorry', whilst they're crying their heart out, is quite traumatising," she said. "Although you're saying how sorry you are, in the back of your mind, you're also thinking: 'I've got three other patients I've got to go and see, the infusions need drawing up, and meds need to be given and a nurse needs support'. "The guilt is just too much." Lead researcher Prof Neil Greenberg said the findings should be a "wake-up call" for NHS managers. He said: "The severity of symptoms we identified are highly likely to impair some ICU staff's ability to provide high-quality care as well as negatively impacting on their quality of life." Read full story Source: BBC News, 13 January 2021 -
News Article
GPs say shortage of doctors puts safe care at risk
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
GPs in England are finding it "increasingly hard to guarantee safe care" as the number of doctors falls and demand surges, a senior medic said. Prof Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, told the Guardian GP numbers had fallen by 4.5% despite an ageing population with an increased need for care. GPs feared making serious mistakes due to excessive workloads, he said. Prof Marshall also defended the continued use of remote consultations. Prof Marshall said the demand for services from GPs, including more complex consultations and the vaccination programme, on top of this decline in numbers was putting family doctors under strain. "The fact that general practice is under such enormous pressure means it can't deliver the patient-centred services that it wants to. Many GPs are even finding it challenging to maintain a safe service," he said. He said family doctors were more likely to make a mistake if they were working 11- or 12-hour days, seeing 50 or 60 patients. "GPs are finding it increasingly hard to guarantee safe care to their patients," he said. "The chances of making a mistake in a diagnosis or a mistake in a referral decision or a mistake in prescribing are all greater when you're under stress." Read full story Source: BBC News, 11 September 2021 -
News Article
Staff at UK GP surgeries facing abuse and ‘tsunami of demand’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS staff at GP surgeries are facing unprecedented abuse and aggression from patients, while stressed doctors are increasingly suffering from mental illness, because of an appointments system “in meltdown”, family doctors’ leaders have revealed. The scale of the deep crisis in GP surgeries was revealed in an emergency summit of more than 60 NHS doctors, dentists and administrative staff in Salford, which the Guardian attended, triggered by a recent rise in verbal abuse. "Patients are short-tempered and not happy waiting for anything … They want letters. The latest one was a request to speak to a GP because he needs a letter to confirm anxieties that cause him a problem in long queues – because he wants to take his son to [Southport amusement park] Pleasureland and does not want to queue," says Jan Crowshaw, a GP manager It comes after a recent poll by the body representing GP surgery staff across the UK found that 75% of them face abuse every day, including assaults, threats, racism and sexism. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 May 2021 -
EventCOVID-19 has been incredibly stressful—personally and professionally—and has profoundly affected everyone in healthcare, including those of us in patient safety, quality, and risk management. Join this Patient Safety Association's virtual round table to decompress and share your experiences. Some of your colleagues have offered to discuss their coping strategies, and please feel free to do the same. Resources from professionals trained to handle stress will be provided. Register
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EventuntilCOVID-19 has been incredibly stressful—personally and professionally—and has profoundly affected everyone in healthcare, including those of us in patient safety, quality, and risk management. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and join this virtual round table to decompress and share your experiences. Some of your colleagues have offered to discuss their coping strategies, and please feel free to do the same. We will also be providing resources from professionals trained to handle stress. Register
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EventThis conference focuses on supporting staff who have been involved in patient safety incidents, or are the subject of complaints or claims. Involvement in an incident, complaint or claim can have severe consequences on staff who may experience a range of reactions including stress, depression, shame and guilt. This conference will enable you to: Network with colleagues who are working to support staff following incidents, complaints or claims. Understand national developments including the requirements in the 2020 Patient Safety Incident Response Framework. Reflect on how we can better support staff experiencing these issues through COVID-19. Deliver a just culture that supports consistent, constructive and fair evaluation of the actions of staff involved in patient safety incidents. Reflect on a healthcare’s professionals personal experience of being the subject of an incident investigation. Improve immediate support and debriefing when an incident occurs. Develop your skills in providing the staff member involved in a patient safety incident specific individual support or intervention to work safely. Understand how you can improve processes for ensuring candour and supporting staff. Identify key strategies for interviewing staff and taking statements and preparing staff for Coroner’s Inquests. Ensure you are up to date with the latest developments in psychological support for staff including building resilience. Self assess and reflect on your own practice. Gain CPD accreditation points contributing to professional development and revalidation evidence. Register
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Content ArticleThis blog by the charity Picker explores concerns about the safety of staffing levels in the NHS, highlighted by the 2021 NHS Staff Survey. It talks about the potential impact of a recent drop in staff morale. The blog draws out these key findings from the survey: The proportion of staff who felt unwell as a result of work-related stress in the last 12 months rose to 46% – almost half. This was an increase of nearly 3% from the 2020 figure (44%) and continued a trend: the figure has risen each year since 2017, when 38% of staff reported work-related stress. Almost one-in-three staff members say they “often think about leaving” their organisation – an increase of 4% points vs the 26% recorded in 2020. And one-in-six (16%) say they will leave their organisation “as soon as I can find another job” – a 2% point increase from 2020. Only 52% of NHS staff say that they look forward to going to work – a decline of more than 6% points from 58% in 2020. New questions in the survey suggest that many staff are experiencing burnout. Overall, more than a third of staff (34%) said that they ‘always’ or ‘often’ “feel burnt out because of [their] work”. The proportion was even higher for staff in patient facing roles (for example, 41% of registered nurses and midwives) and especially for ambulance personnel (51%).
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Content ArticleReducing stress is an organisational imperative since workplace pressures continue to be one of the main causes of short and long-term absence. According to research undertaken by CIPD based on responses from 804 organisations, 79% of respondents report some stress-related absence in their organisation over the last year. Healthcare settings have an even higher rate of absence due to stress, yet there is reason to be optimistic that this could start to change when a new policy from NHS England is implemented, which recommends the use of After Action Review (AAR). In this blog, Judy Walker explains how AARs can play a key role in reducing stress for those who have been involved in clinical incidents.
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Content ArticleHuman error is as old as humankind itself and widely recognised as a significant cause of mistakes. Much of the research in this area has originated from high-risk organisations (HROs), including commercial aviation, where even simple mistakes can be catastrophic. A failure to understand and recognise how Human Factors (HF), especially those that affect performance and team working, can contribute or lead to serious medical error is still widespread across healthcare. Sadly, this commonly occurs in the operating theatre, one of the most dangerous places in hospital. While attitudes and acceptance of pre-surgery briefings has improved using the World Health Service (WHO) Surgical Checklist, this does not address other 'personal' factors that can lead to error, including stress, fatigue, emotional status, hunger and situational awareness. Following initial work around HF perception amongst operating theatre teams, Peter Brennan's (student at the University of Portsmouth) research has lead to significant delivery changes to the high stakes Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) examination, taken by up tp 6,500 junior doctors per year. After recognising boredom and fatigue in examiners, further published studies found an improvement in examiner morale with no significant changes in exam reliability or overall candidate outcome. These changes have improved patient safety at a National level. Other high stakes National Events have been evaluated where repetitive assessment occurs during long days, providing reassurance to organisers and the General Medical Council. 28 HF-related publications have been included in this work, including several reviews of important personal factors that affect performance and how these can be optimised at work.
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Content ArticleSince the Covid-19 pandemic, staff shortages have worsened in health systems around the world, with an increasing number of healthcare workers leaving the workforce coinciding with increased patient demand. In this blog, Jens Hooiveld, International Marketing Manager at the Patient Safety Company, examines the patient safety issues caused by staffing shortages. He highlights tools that can help nurses manage patient safety in this pressured climate by decreasing the burden of admin associated with reporting adverse incidents.
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Content ArticleThe realities of our healthcare system are driving many health workers to burnout. They are at an increased risk for mental health challenges and choosing to leave the health workforce early. They work in distressing environments that strain their physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. This will make it harder for patients to get care when they need it. The USA is facing high levels of burnout among health care workers, which could lead to serious shortcomings in patient care, a new report from the U.S. Surgeon General has found.
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Content Article
In this blog for the hub, Julia Wood explains why Joy in Work is so important, how you can implement it into your team ensuring you and your colleagues are happier at work, and why a happier team will improve patient care. -
Content Article
Psychological safety Padlet board
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Culture
Psychological safety refers to creating and maintaining an environment in which members of a team feel able to speak up without fear of negative consequences. It allows healthcare professionals to take the interpersonal risks needed to engage in effective teamwork and to maintain patient safety. This Padlet board set up by Becky Thomas is a place to post resources and articles related to promoting psychological safety. -
Content ArticleThis BMJ Practice Pointer discusses how we can support our colleagues with their mental health.
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Content ArticleThis editorial in BMJ Quality & Safety examines literature that looks at the negative side effects of quality improvement (QI) approaches and initiatives, arguing that QI can contribute to staff burnout, stress and reduced engagement. The authors make a number of recommendations for avoiding the negative side effects of QI.
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Content ArticleA toxic organisational culture has been shown to contribute more to staff leaving and reporting ill health, than pay and other factors. In this blog, Brandi Neal, Director of Content Creation & Marketing at the consultancy Radical Candor, looks at three traits of a toxic company culture: obnoxious aggression, ruinous empathy and manipulative insincerity. She highlights the value of the radical candor approach, which involves caring personally for staff while challenging them directly, and building genuine relationships with your team,
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Content ArticleThis Health and Social Care Select Committee report examines the pressure currently facing general practice, which is leading to low morale, GPs leaving the profession and problems recruiting new GPs. In turn, patients are increasingly dissatisfied with the level of access they receive. The root cause of the situation is that there are not enough GPs to meet the ever-increasing demands on the service, coupled with patients presenting with increasing complexity due to an ageing population. The report outlines the Committee's assessment of the key issues, including the problems with reliance on locum doctors and lack of continuity of care, and outlines what the Government should do to equip general practice for the future.
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Content ArticleTalking General Practice speaks to Dr Helen Garr, medical director of NHS Practitioner Health, the NHS service that looks after doctors and dentists - and also other NHS staff - who are experiencing mental ill health. In this conversation, Helen talk about the impact that pressures on the NHS are having on doctors’ wellbeing and how this is affecting GPs in particular. Helen also explains what doctors and other NHS staff can do if they are suffering from burnout, how to prevent burnout, what people can do if they are worried about a colleague and how NHS Practitioner Health supports doctors who seek help from the service. She also outlines how she thinks the NHS could change to help ensure better mental health for doctors and other staff.
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EventuntilUsing psychological theory and research-based techniques, this session will demonstrate how to enhance recovery and build resilience for healthcare professionals. In this interactive webinar, Dr Anne-Marie Doyle, consultant clinical psychologist and Dr Elizabeth Haxby, immediate Past President of the RSM Patient Safety Section, will offer strategies to protect the wellbeing of healthcare professionals by helping to anticipate and manage stress, recovery and build resilience. Register
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EventuntilExplore the link between healthcare staff wellbeing and patient safety in the first episode of the Royal Society of Medicine's Patient Safety Section's webinar series, Optimising Strength and Resilience. The wellbeing of healthcare professionals is fundamental to the delivery of high-quality, safe patient care. It has become a major focus of attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in relation to physical and mental health, resilience and potential for burnout. In contrast to existing resources and support initiatives, this series is designed to be proactive and help healthcare staff anticipate and prepare for stressful events. It will offer knowledge and tools to help staff to manage stressful events in both their professional and personal lives. Join Dr Anne-Marie Doyle, consultant clinical psychologist and Dr Elizabeth Haxby, immediate Past President of the RSM Patient Safety Section, for this interactive webinar which will help healthcare professionals to identify sources of stress, acknowledge its impact on individuals and teams and understand how they respond to stresses. Using systems theory and strengths-based positive psychology, this session will examine the concept of integrated health and psychological resilience. Register
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Content ArticleWith the possibility of a spike in COVID-19 cases this winter, doctors, nurses and medical staff may be coming in feeling already depleted from an uncontrolled pandemic. Guest host Dan Gorenstein of the Tradeoffs podcast talks with Dr Albert Wu, co-director of RISE (Resilience in Stressful Events) which provides emotional support to health system staff. Gorenstein and Wu talk about why health care workers may have low reserves right now, how COVID may be changing perceived stigma around mental health support for frontline workers and what institutions can do to ensure the well-being and resilience of all staff."Asking people to be heroic over and over again, to run back into the fire multiple times, gets harder each time" (Dr Wu).This is a podcast called Public Health on Call, produced by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
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Content ArticleCOVID-19 brings an enormous set of challenges to hospitals around the world. One challenge in particular, the current mental state of healthcare workers, is now taking centre stage as clinicians face delivering difficult news to patients and their families about what is happening, what to expect, and how to prepare. ECRI and RLDatix came together to deliver a special webcast led by Dr Tim McDonald, an expert on Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR). A recording of the webinar can be viewed below.
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Content ArticleStaff burnout was concern number 3 from ECRI’s Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2019. This paper discusses staff burnout and the impact this can have on patient safety.
