scholarly journals Hospital Staff Report It Is Not Burnout, but a Normal Stress Reaction to an Uncongenial Work Environment: Findings from a Qualitative Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 4107
Author(s):  
Madeleine Kendrick ◽  
Kevin Kendrick ◽  
Peter Morton ◽  
Nicholas F. Taylor ◽  
Sandra G. Leggat
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Social Determinant ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Health Care Staff ◽  
Healthcare Staff ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Allied Health Professionals ◽  
Staff Experiences

(1) Background: The issue of burnout in healthcare staff is frequently discussed in relation to occupational health. In this paper, we report healthcare staff experiences of stress and burnout. (2) Methods: In total, 72 healthcare staff were interviewed from psychiatry, surgery, and emergency departments at an Australian public health service. The sample included doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, administrators, and front-line managers. Interview transcripts were thematically analyzed, with participant experiences interpreted against descriptors of burnout in Maslach’s Burnout Inventory and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11). (3) Results: Staff experiences closely matched the ICD-11 description of stress associated with working in an uncongenial workplace, with few reported experiences which matched the ICD-11 descriptors of burnout. (4) Conclusion: Uncongenial workplaces in public health services contribute to healthcare staff stress. While previous approaches have focused on biomedical assistance for individuals, our findings suggest that occupational health approaches to addressing health care staff stress need greater focus on the workplace as a social determinant of health. This finding is significant as organizational remedies to uncongenial stress are quite different from remedies to burnout.

scholarly journals A framework for the management of donated medical devices based on perspectives of frontline public health care staff in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 239920262094136
Author(s):  
Dinsie B Williams ◽  
Jillian C Kohler ◽  
Andrew Howard ◽  
Zubin Austin ◽  
Yu-Ling Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Health Care Staff ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Delivery Of Care

Background: Transnational funders provide up to 80% of funds for medical devices in resource-limited settings, yet sustained access to medical devices remains unachievable. The primary goal of this study was to identify what factors hinder access to medical devices through the perspectives of frontline public hospital staff in Ghana involved in the implementation of transnational funding initiatives. Methods: A case study was developed that involved an analysis of semi-structured interviews of 57 frontline technical, clinical and administrative public health care staff at 23 sites in Ghana between March and April 2017; a review of the national guidelines for donations; and images of abandoned medical devices. Results: Six key themes emerged, demonstrating how policy, collaboration, quality, lifetime operating costs, attitudes of health care workers and representational leadership influence access to medical devices. An in-depth assessment of these themes has led to the development of an enterprise-wide comprehensive acquisition and management framework for medical devices in the context of transnational funding initiatives. Conclusion: The findings in this study underscore the importance of incorporating frontline health care staff in developing solutions that are targeted at improving delivery of care. Sustained access to medical devices may be achieved in Ghana through the adoption of a rigorous and comprehensive approach to acquisition, management and technical leadership. Funders and public health policy makers may use the study’s findings to inform policy reform and to ensure that the efforts of transnational funders truly help to facilitate sustainable access to medical devices in Ghana.

scholarly journals Can the Health-Care System Meet the Challenge of Pandemic Flu? Planning, Ethical, and Workforce Considerations

2007 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 573-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Levin ◽  
Eric N. Gebbie ◽  
Kristine Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Health Care Staff ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Care Delivery Systems ◽  
The Impact

The federal pandemic influenza plan predicts that 30% of the population could be infected. The impact of this pandemic would quickly overwhelm the public health and health-care delivery systems in the U.S. and throughout the world. Surge capacity for staffing, availability of drugs and supplies, and alternate means to provide care must be included in detailed plans that are tested and drilled ahead of time. Accurate information on the disease must be made available to health-care staff and the public to reduce fear. Spokespersons must provide clear, consistent messages about the disease, including actions to be taken to contain its spread and treat the afflicted. Home care will be especially important, as hospitals will be quickly overwhelmed. Staff must be prepared ahead of time to assure their ability and willingness to report to work, and public health must plan ahead to adequately confront ethical issues that will arise concerning the availability of treatment resources. The entire community must work together to meet the challenges posed by an epidemic. Identification and resolution of these challenges and issues are essential to achieve adequate public health preparedness.

Moving Past the Loss: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Health Care Staff Experiences of Disinvestment

2020 ◽  
pp. 107755872097258
Author(s):  
Deb Mitchell ◽  
Lisa O’Brien ◽  
Anne Bardoel ◽  
Terry Haines
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Health Care Staff ◽  
Modifying Factors ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
Staff Experiences ◽  
The Impact

This longitudinal qualitative study examines staff experience of disinvestment from a service they are accustomed to providing to their patients. It took place alongside a disinvestment trial that measured the impact of the removal of weekend allied health services from acute wards at two hospitals. Data were gathered from repeated interviews and focus groups with 450 health care staff. We developed a grounded theory, which explains changes in staff perceptions over time and the key modifying factors. Staff appeared to experience disinvestment as loss; a key difference to other operational changes. Early staff experiences of disinvestment were primarily negative, but evolved with time and change-management strategies such as the provision of data, clear and persistent communication approaches, and forums where the big picture context of the disinvestment was robustly discussed. These allowed the disinvestment trial to be successfully implemented at two health services, with high compliance with the research protocol.

scholarly journals Supply-and-demand projections for the health workforce at a provincial level from 2015 to 2025 in Ilam, Iran

2020 ◽  
pp. 201010582094323
Author(s):  
Mohammad Bazyar ◽  
Somayeh Noori Hekmat ◽  
Sima Rafiei ◽  
Amin Mirzaei ◽  
Masoomeh Otaghi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
General Medicine ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Health Care Staff ◽  
Local Health

Background: Human resources are the key component of health systems. It is critical to have the right number of human resources at anytime and anywhere in the health system. This article aims to help local health decision makers to identify potential gaps between the future supply and demand of human resources and to make necessary changes in medical training processes to fill the gap. Methods: An eight-stage process was applied to project the supply and demand of health workers in Ilam province in 2025 for the following fields: public health, environmental health, general medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and midwifery. To estimate the demand for human resources, a mainly population-based model (manpower-to-population ratio) was applied. A modified version of the Australian dynamic stock and flow model was used to predict the supply of new recruits in 2025. The potential surplus or shortfall in the health workforce was calculated by comparing the supply and demand in 2025. Results: The demand and supply projections for the chosen fields were estimated respectively as: general medicine 457, 709; pharmacy 131, 86; dentistry 86, 251; nursing 949, 1657; midwifery 24, 247; public health 182, 211; and environmental health 92, 225. Conclusions: The current trend of medical graduates will meet the need for human resources in 2025, and there is no need to increase medical student admission. The Education Deputy of Ilam Medical University should take into account the health needs of its catchment area in medical educational processes and training new health-care staff.

scholarly journals Underlying Chronic Disease and COVID-19 Infection: A State-of-the-Art Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Habib Haybar ◽  
Khalil Kazemnia ◽  
Fakher Rahim
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Chronic Disease ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Healthcare Staff ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Infection Control Measures ◽  
The World

Context: In late December 2019, a new coronavirus, called COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2/2019-nCoV), triggered the outbreak of pneumonia from Wuhan (Han’s seafood market) in China, which is now possessing major public health threats to the world. The objective of this review was to describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 in different chronic diseases and understand the pathophysiological mechanisms by which the virus can lead to the progression of these diseases. Results: The prevalence of COVID-19 infection has become a clinical threat to the general population and healthcare staff around the world. However, knowledge is limited about this new virus. The most commonly reported conditions are diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease, and cardiovascular disease. Conclusions: Effective antiviral therapy and vaccination are currently being evaluated and under-development. What we can do now is the aggressive implementation of infection control measures to prevent the human-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Public health services should also monitor the situation. The more the knowledge about this new virus and its prevalence, the better the ability of us to deal with it. It is hoped that we will overcome COVID-19 soon with the discovery of effective vaccines, drugs, and treatments.

scholarly journals Critical care work during COVID-19: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the UK

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e048124
Author(s):  
Catherine M Montgomery ◽  
Sally Humphreys ◽  
Corrienne McCulloch ◽  
Annemarie B Docherty ◽  
Steve Sturdy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Care ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Patient Acuity ◽  
Allied Health Professionals ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Extreme Stress ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Staff Experiences

ObjectiveTo understand National Health Service (NHS) staff experiences of working in critical care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.DesignQualitative study using semistructured telephone interviews and rapid analysis, interpreted using Baehr’s sociological lens of ‘communities of fate’.ParticipantsForty NHS staff working in critical care, including 21 nurses, 10 doctors and advanced critical care practitioners, 4 allied health professionals, 3 operating department practitioners and 2 ward clerks. Participants were interviewed between August and October 2020; we purposefully sought the experiences of trained and experienced critical care staff and those who were redeployed.SettingFour hospitals in the UK.ResultsCOVID-19 presented staff with a situation of extreme stress, duress and social emergency, leading to a shared set of experiences which we have characterised as a community of fate. This involved not only fear and dread of working in critical care, but also a collective sense of duty and vocation. Caring for patients and families involved changes to usual ways of working, revolving around: reorganisation of space and personnel, personal protective equipment, lack of evidence for treating COVID-19, inability for families to be physically present, and the trauma of witnessing extreme patient acuity and death on a large scale. The stress and isolation of working in critical care during COVID-19 was mitigated by strong teamwork, camaraderie, pride and fulfilment.ConclusionCOVID-19 has changed working practices in critical care and profoundly affected staff physically, mentally and emotionally. Attention needs to be paid to the social and organisational conditions in which individuals work, addressing both practical resourcing and the interpersonal dynamics of critical care provision.

scholarly journals Risk and Protective Factors of Well-Being among Healthcare Staff. A Thematic Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Berlanda ◽  
Federica de Cordova ◽  
Marta Fraizzoli ◽  
Monica Pedrazza
Keyword(s):  
Protective Factors ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Risk And Protective Factors ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
Health Care Staff ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Healthcare Staff

The purpose of this study was to identify physical and psychosocial working conditions to improve well-being at work among healthcare staff. This is a potent area of inquiry given the relationship between healthcare staff well-being and service quality and other key organizational characteristics. However, while numerous studies in this area have used a quantitative methodology, very few have applied qualitative methodologies gathering subjective descriptions of the sources of well-being, providing in so doing significant data to explore in depth the factors that influence well-being in healthcare systems. We gathered qualitative data analyzing open-ended questions about risk and protective factors of well-being at work. The sample was made of 795 professionals answering an online questionnaire. Answers were coded and analyzed using the thematic analysis with an inductive approach (data-driven). We identified four themes strongly affecting professional well-being in health-care staff: Interactions, Working Conditions, Emotional Responses to Work, and Competence and Professional Growth. Our findings suggest possible strategies and actions that may be effective in helping to calibrate case-specific support and monitoring interventions to improve health and well-being of healthcare staff. We also discuss the implications of the study and suggest possible avenues for future empirical research.

scholarly journals Context Matters: Findings from a Qualitative Study Exploring Service and Place Factors Influencing the Recruitment and Retention of Allied Health Professionals in Rural Australian Public Health Services

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (16) ◽  
pp. 5815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Cosgrave
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Allied Health ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Allied Health Professionals ◽  
Recruitment And Retention ◽  
Public Sector Health

Chronic health workforce shortages significantly contribute to unmet health care needs in rural and remote communities. Of particular and growing concern are shortages of allied health professionals (AHPs). This study explored the contextual factors impacting the recruitment and retention of AHPs in rural Australia. A qualitative approach using a constructivist-interpretivist methodology was taken. Semi-structured interviews (n = 74) with executive staff, allied health (AH) managers and newly recruited AHPs working in two rural public health services in Victoria, Australia were conducted. Data was coded and categorised inductively and analysed thematically. The findings suggest that to support a stable and sustainable AH workforce, rural public sector health services need to be more efficient, strategic and visionary. This means ensuring that policies and procedures are equitable and accessible, processes are effective, and action is taken to develop local programs, opportunities and supports that allow AH staff to thrive and grow in place at all grade levels and life stages. This study reinforces the need for a whole-of-community approach to effectively support individual AH workers and their family members in adjusting to a new place and developing a sense of belonging in place. The recommendations arising from this study are likely to have utility for other high-income countries, particularly in guiding AH recruitment and retention strategies in rural public sector health services. Recommendations relating to community/place will likely benefit broader rural health workforce initiatives.

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