Working in healthcare will always be stressful, no matter what level you work at, but a staggering 2.7 million US professionals allow it to reach the point of burnout. The reality is that healthcare leaders are partially responsible for alleviating stress levels within their teams. However, they also need to avoid facing burnout. Throughout this article, we discuss ways that healthcare leaders can reduce burnout for the self and staff.
Take Time Away
Whether you’re already taking on a leadership in healthcare management role or you’re about to rise through the ranks, you’ll understand how mentally draining life can be. To avoid reaching the point of burnout, you need to allow yourself and your team to take time away. By stepping back to relax and work out, you’re not demonstrating disdain for the job; you’re simply protecting your mental well-being and improving patient care as a result.
Build Flexibility into Staffing Structures
Providing the best patient care relies on members of staff being present, which can often be difficult when you consider staff shortages in the US. However, if you can source locum tenens medical personnel, you can allow yourself and your team to take time away without worrying about dips in patient care. As well as this, by effectively placing locum tenens personnel, you’ll increase retention, manage labor more effectively, and keep burnout to a minimum.
Be Kind and Keep on Communicating
Healthcare leaders and staff need to have a positive working relationship built on mutual trust. Although you and the team need to be productive, having a strict focus here will most likely lead to widespread burnout. Whereas, if you and your team make a conscious effort to be understanding and kind, while keeping lines of communication open, everyone will have a sense of belonging and self-worth. In most cases, this will help lift the lid off burnout pressure, which will naturally lead to increased productivity.
Provide Resources for Health and Well-Being
Burnout in the medical profession can often be linked to overwhelming feelings of isolation and loneliness. Therefore, sharing woes with supportive colleagues or professionals can make all the difference. To encourage your team to take their mental well-being seriously, you should provide free services for them to access without judgment. Additionally, you can invest in team subscriptions to health and well-being apps.
Working Around Staffing Needs
Everything outlined above is fantastic for managing burnout. However, with the shortage of healthcare workers in the US at an all-time low following the Covid-19 pandemic, providing the necessary burnout-prevention strategies isn’t always easy. Therefore, before you can start lowering team burnout, you have to make sure daily operations are taken care of. To do this, you may need to invest in automation tools and personal development for your team.
Stress comes hand-in-hand with working in the healthcare industry, but that doesn’t mean it needs to take control and cause burnout. In a leadership position, you have the power to make sure you and your team have suitable stress-reduction tactics in place.
