It’s been a difficult time in the healthcare industry the past couple of years, and one of the main problems leading to staff shortages is burnout. When employees suffer from burnout, it can spread to the entire staff and become a significant problem for facilities. Keep your team strong by learning ways to prevent burnout in your healthcare facility.
Promote Strong Communication Between Workers and Administration
Burnout is especially prevalent in lower-level essential employees like RNs and CRNAs, personnel crucial to a functioning healthcare facility. Preventing burnout many times comes down to proper communication. Workers become discouraged when they feel ignored, so keep your door open for questions and concerns and make an effort to communicate with workers on your own instead of making them come to you.
Be Proactive in Addressing Worker’s Concerns
Have you noticed certain supplies running low? Attack that problem before it grows. The best defense is a good offense, so don’t wait for problems to arise but rather seek them out and extinguish them before they become fires. When workers see you being proactive about their concerns, they appreciate the culture you’re trying to create.
Encourage a Healthy Environment in Your Facility
Along with a healthy culture, you want your workers to be physically fit because when they’re healthy, they feel better and avoid burning out. Make your facility a sanctuary of health and fitness with nutritious snacks and drinks. You can even offer workout classes if you have the space so that your workers can exercise before or after shifts.
Support Mental Health as Much as Physical
Burnout doesn’t just come from physical exhaustion but mental as well. Offering access to mental health counseling, webinars, and other resources can help employees avoid mental fatigue. Even just having a spare room exclusively for relaxation and meditation can do wonders.
Be Flexible
When you know your employees are working hard, reciprocate their effort by being flexible with schedules. Many healthcare workers have families dealing with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, with schools and workplaces closing and needing to be at home more. Be as flexible as possible to show appreciation for their hard work.
Acknowledge and Reward Good Work
When healthcare workers succumb to burnout, a lack of encouragement and acknowledgment is usually at the top of their frustrations. Provide positive feedback to workers and show that you see the challenging work they’re doing. Acknowledging the work of individuals or departments with rewards or prizes can boost morale for all your personnel as they see you showing your appreciation.
We’re all aware of the challenges facing the healthcare industry and its workers today and in the future. Low staff morale is a severe problem for many hospitals, but there are ways to prevent burnout in your healthcare facility if you stay proactive and listen to workers’ concerns.
