Self-care for health professionals

2019 ◽  
pp. 835-842
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Compassion Fatigue ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Intractable Pain ◽  
Personal Anxiety

This chapter covers theory of palliative care issues associated with caring for people who are dying and the particular stresses involved. Sources of stress are multiple, may be accumulative, and are linked to all areas of an individual’s life. Working with dying people may be stressful, particularly if staff experience personal bereavement and loss. Such work can put staff in touch with personal anxiety about loss and death. Palliative care staff also find it very stressful to deal with patients who experience intractable pain, those who have young children, and those patients who are afraid to die. Symptoms that leave nurses feeling helpless, useless, and impotent are the most stressful to deal with, as is dealing with distressed relatives. The chapter looks at strategies for supporting a workforce involved in the ongoing delivery of palliative care to avoid burnout and compassion fatigue.

The Snog and Grog Club

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Kabel
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Day Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Life Threatening Illness ◽  
Palliative Care Services ◽  
End Stage

The popularity of British hospice day care signals the expanding boundaries of palliative care beyond end-stage illness. In this article, I examine the ways hospice philosophy was interpreted and implemented in an outpatient day therapy setting run by a multidisciplinary team of health professionals. Findings suggest that hospice day care staff members used several strategies to help patients cope and retain a sense of personhood while facing numerous emotional and physical challenges associated with life-threatening illness. Health professionals in the United States will need to prepare for patients accessing hospice and palliative care services earlier in the illness trajectory to take advantage of these opportunities for patient support and advocacy.

Yoga in a palliative care suite: Promoting self-care amongst nurses and practitioners.

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (29_suppl) ◽  
pp. 169-169
Author(s):  
Cheryl Gancio ◽  
Bridget Earle
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Compassion Fatigue ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Unique Challenge ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Quality Of Life Scale ◽  
Organizational Involvement

169 Background: North Shore University Hospital (NSUH) in Manhasset, NY has a thriving in-patient palliative medicine consult service and a 10 bed palliative care suite (PCS). The PCS specializes in managing and treating symptoms as well as the psycho-social, interpersonal and emotional needs of our patients and families. Approximately 80% of the admitted patients expire on the unit. This high rate of patient expiration presents a unique challenge for staff working in this setting. In order to promote self-care and prevent burnout we implemented a yoga program for the nurses and practitioners in the PCS. Our goal was to assess the effectiveness of the yoga program on staff well-being and perceptions on the unit. Methods: We started with an evidence based literature search to validate the high amount of burnout in the clinical setting amongst staff and the benefits of yoga on reducing stress and promoting self-care. A fellow nurse certified yoga instructor was identified to run each session. Participation waivers were obtained from all staff. The yoga program started in June 2013 once to twice weekly in the PCS. All participants were surveyed to evaluate compassion fatigue, burnout and perception of organizational involvement using the professional quality of life scale (ProQOL). Results: There were a total of 23 subjects; 13 (56.52%) participated in yoga and 10 (43.48%) did not. Most of the participants were female and registered nurses. Results of the ProQOL showed no significant difference in compassion fatigue but the majority of subjects reported high perception of organizational involvement from their managers after the program was implemented. Conclusions: The program was feasible, of low cost and sustainable although we did face some challenges. It further identified the value of support from management to improve practitioner self-care and burnout. Our future plans include, assessing effectiveness on a larger scale, offering yoga to patients and family and continuing to implement the project on a more structured basis in the PCS.

Self-Care

2019 ◽  
pp. 817-823
Author(s):  
Kathy G. Kravits
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Compassion Fatigue ◽  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Secondary Traumatic Stress ◽  
Self Care ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Stress Symptoms

Self-care is growing as a topic for scientific inquiry. In this chapter, the biological basis of the stress response and the recent evidence of the consequences of persistent and ongoing stressors overwhelming the individual’s resources will be discussed. Secondary to the growing awareness of the destructive consequences of persistent stress, palliative care providers are affected by both stress inherent in the emotional labor of the work and lack of self-care. The result is risk for the development of compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress symptoms. Martin Seligman’s work in positive psychology and Happiness Theory will be used to explore well-being and the intentional creation of greater life satisfaction.

scholarly journals Development of a Managed Clinical Network for Children’s Palliative Care – A Qualitative Evaluation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Papworth ◽  
Lorna Fraser ◽  
Jo Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Clinical Network ◽  
Barriers To Access

Abstract Background Consistent evidence suggests that children’s palliative care is not equitable and managed clinical networks (MCNs) have been recommended as a solution. This study explored the perspectives of health professionals involved in the development of a children’s palliative care MCN, with an aim to identify barriers and enablers of successful implementation.Methods Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 45 healthcare staff with a role in developing the MCN or in the delivery of children’s palliative care (September 2019-March 2020). Results The study explored health professionals’ perceptions of the MCN features that had helped to formalise governance processes, establish training and networking opportunities, standardise practice, and improve collaboration between organisations. These include the funded MCN co-ordinator, committed individuals who lead the MCN, and a governance structure that fosters collaboration. However, the MCN’s development was impeded by cross-cutting barriers including limited funding for the MCN and children’s palliative care more generally, no shared technology, lack of standards and evidence-base for children’s palliative care, and shortage of palliative care staff. These barriers impacted on the MCN’s ability to improve and evaluate palliative care provision and affected member engagement. Competing organisational priorities and differences between NHS and non-NHS members also impeded progress. Training provision was well received, although barriers to access were identified. Conclusions Key features of children’s palliative care can act as barriers to developing a managed clinical network. Managing expectations and raising awareness, providing accessible and relevant training, and sharing early achievements through ongoing evaluation can help to sustain member engagement, which is crucial to a network’s success.

scholarly journals Development of a managed clinical network for children’s palliative care – a qualitative evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Papworth ◽  
Lorna Fraser ◽  
Jo Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Clinical Network ◽  
Barriers To Access

Abstract Background Consistent evidence suggests that children’s palliative care is not equitable and managed clinical networks (MCNs) have been recommended as a solution. This study explored the perspectives of health professionals involved in the development of a children’s palliative care MCN, with an aim to identify barriers and enablers of successful implementation. Methods Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 45 healthcare staff with a role in developing the MCN or in the delivery of children’s palliative care (September 2019–March 2020). Results The study explored health professionals’ perceptions of the MCN features that had helped to formalise governance processes, establish training and networking opportunities, standardise practice, and improve collaboration between organisations. These include the funded MCN co-ordinator, committed individuals who lead the MCN, and a governance structure that fosters collaboration. However, the MCN’s development was impeded by cross-cutting barriers including limited funding for the MCN and children’s palliative care more generally, no shared technology, lack of standards and evidence base for children’s palliative care, and shortage of palliative care staff. These barriers impacted on the MCN’s ability to improve and evaluate palliative care provision and affected member engagement. Competing organisational priorities and differences between NHS and non-NHS members also impeded progress. Training provision was well received, although barriers to access were identified. Conclusions Key features of children’s palliative care can act as barriers to developing a managed clinical network. Managing expectations and raising awareness, providing accessible and relevant training, and sharing early achievements through ongoing evaluation can help to sustain member engagement, which is crucial to a network’s success.

scholarly journals Development of a Managed Clinical Network for Children’s Palliative Care – A Qualitative Evaluation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Papworth ◽  
Lorna Fraser ◽  
Jo Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Clinical Network ◽  
Barriers To Access

Abstract BackgroundConsistent evidence suggests that children’s palliative care is not equitable and managed clinical networks (MCNs) have been recommended as a solution. This study explored the perspectives of health professionals involved in the development of a children’s palliative care MCN, with an aim to identify barriers and enablers of successful implementation.MethodsThematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 45 healthcare staff with a role in developing the MCN or in the delivery of children’s palliative care (September 2019-March 2020). ResultsThe study explored health professionals’ perceptions of the MCN features that helped to formalise governance processes, establish training and networking opportunities, standardise practice, and improve collaboration between organisations. These include the funded MCN co-ordinator, committed individuals who lead the MCN, and a governance structure that fosters collaboration. However, the MCN’s development was impeded by cross-cutting barriers including limited funding for the MCN and children’s palliative care more generally, no shared technology, lack of standards and evidence-base for children’s palliative care, and shortage of palliative care staff. These barriers impacted on the MCN’s ability to improve and evaluate palliative care provision and affected member engagement. Competing organisational priorities and differences between NHS and non-NHS members also impeded progress. Training provision was well received, although barriers to access were identified. ConclusionsKey features of children’s palliative care can act as barriers to developing a managed clinical network. Managing expectations and raising awareness, providing accessible and relevant training, and sharing early achievements through ongoing evaluation can help to sustain member engagement, which is crucial to a network’s success.

Māori Research(er) in Three Poems

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Jacquie Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Bell Hooks ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Third ◽  
Ruth Behar ◽  
Seeking Help

These three poems re-present the findings from a research project that took place in 2013 (Kidd et al. 2018, Kidd et al. 2014). The research explored what health literacy meant for Māori patients and whānau when they accessed palliative care. Through face-to-face interviews and focus groups we engaged with 81 people including patients, whānau, bereaved loved ones, support workers and health professionals. The poems are composite, written to bring some of our themes to life. The first poem is titled Aue. This is a Māori lament that aligns to English words such as ‘oh no’, or ‘arrgh’, or ‘awww’. Each stanza of the poem re-presents some of the stories we heard throughout the research. The second poem is called Tikanga. This is a Māori concept that encompasses customs, traditions and protocols. There are tikanga rituals and processes that guide all aspects of life, death, and relationships. This poem was inspired by an elderly man who explained that he would avoid seeking help from a hospice because ‘they leave tikanga at the door at those places’. His choice was to bear his pain bravely, with pride, within his cultural identity. The third poem is called ‘People Like Me’. This is an autoethnographical reflection of what I experienced as a researcher which draws on the work of scholars such as bell hooks (1984), Laurel Richardson (1997) and Ruth Behar (1996). These and many other authors encourage researchers to use frustration and anger to inform our writing; to use our tears to fuel our need to publish our research.

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