Staff burnout occurs in every industry, but it’s even more prevalent in the healthcare industry. According to the CDC, 46 percent of health workers in 2022 reported feeling burned out very often, compared with just 32 percent in 2018. Key contributors to burnout include staffing shortages at the top of the list, followed by too many bureaucratic tasks, chaotic work environments, and lack of control over workload.
Healthcare providers are often tasked with working long hours under stressful conditions, which can result in physical and emotional exhaustion. In a nutshell, burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that is caused by prolonged stress, ultimately affecting the healthcare worker’s ability to offer consistent high-quality patient care. On top of that, burnout can bring long-term consequences for their professional and personal lives.
Managing and preventing burnout in healthcare begins with a foundation of a supportive work environment that fosters communication, teamwork, and self-care. Making the right match can be made easier by hiring a healthcare consultant that can vet and research the right employee fit.
Causes of Staff Burnout in Healthcare Workers
In addition to posing a personal problem for health care workers, burnout also causes organizational problems. The impact can be seen across the entire organization, from retention to patient care to productivity. It’s important to understand the causes of staff burnout and what you can do to prevent it from happening.
EHRs
The purpose of electronic health record (EHR) software systems is to streamline tasks and place them all on one central database, with the goal of reducing manual tasks and potential costly mistakes. However, oftentimes, the opposite is true, with workflow being stymied by complicated systems that don’t always work as they should. Ineffective EHRs may impede compliance and interoperability, actually making employees’ jobs more difficult when they can’t access the information they need.
One study by the American Medical Association revealed that half of health care workers experienced high levels of emotional exhaustion. Many things contribute to this, including sleep deprivation and the responsibility of delivering difficult news to patients and families.
Economic Pressures
No doubt, healthcare is a heavily regulated business, which results in many economic pressures for organizations, from tight budgets and limited staffing to unreasonable workloads and unhealthy work environments. To prevent this, adequate resources, fair compensation packages, and supportive structures need to be in place and followed.
Training and Education
Many healthcare workers are expected to keep up with training and continuing education to stay abreast of new technologies and regulatory changes. This never-ending responsibility is frustrating, time-consuming, and exhausting for healthcare professionals, which in turn can lead to burnout. It would behoove healthcare organizations to offer educational opportunities that are more in line with each professional’s needs and skills, while giving them enough time and resources to complete these tasks.
Administrative Duties
Especially when it comes to clinical staff and social workers, these professionals are expected to juggle not just clinical work but administrative duties as well. Operational challenges can be faced by doctors and nurses alike as they contend with the complexities of medical insurance, billing, paperwork, and scheduling in addition to their primary workloads. As a result of being burdened with administrative duties, these healthcare professionals can feel disconnected from their main mission of helping people. This is when burnout can set in. To remedy this, healthcare organizations should hire more administrative staff to handle these tasks so doctors and nurses can focus on providing patient care.
Management and Prevention of Staff Burnout
This all starts by creating a supportive, stable foundation within the work environment that not only fosters teamwork and communication, but self-care as well. Encouraging a healthy work-life balance is key to minimizing burnout. Here are some more goals to prevent burnout.
- Positive Work Culture: This will help to promote open communication and mutual respect among team members who come together to celebrate their successes while showing appreciation for one another.
- Support and Resources: Because high-stress situations notoriously lead to burnout, adequate mental health resources should be offered to help workers cope with emotionally-exhaustive situations. This can come in the form of anything from support groups and counseling services to books and webinars.
- Work-life Balance: A healthy balance can be threatened by emergency call-outs, long hours, and unpredictable schedules. It’s important to set realistic boundaries by allowing flexible schedules and reasonable time off.
Solve Your Staff Burnout Challenges With Grace Care Consulting
As a healthcare provider, you may think it’s inevitable to avoid staff burnout, but in reality, this is something that can be harnessed and improved. Thanks to rigorous vetting processes, Grace Care Consulting can help you find the employees you need to meet the demands of your fast-paced medical setting. On the other end, if you’re looking for a job in the healthcare field, we can ensure a good match with an employer that shares your values. To learn more, contact us today or complete our online form.