The paramedical workforce is an integral part of the healthcare system. It has become imperative to address well-being to ensure optimal performance and growth in this vital profession.
The mental health of the providers affects their ability to serve their patients. Workplace stress can impact their professionalism, efficiency, immediate jeopardy, quality of care, and overall quality of life. This results in burnout, anxiety, sleeping disorders, and disengagement, to name a few.
Burnout of a few healthcare team members spreads like wildfire and engulfs other members, affecting their service quality.
Therefore, taking care of the well-being of all members of a health care workforce in totality is very important.
Read on to explore more insights on the well-being of your workforce in the healthcare sector.
Factors contributing to burnout
Numerous factors contribute to causing stress and burnout, including long shifts, heavy workload, chronicity of care, persistent cases of harassment, and perceived job conflict. Healthcare professionals also regard moral conflict, a lack of support from peers, and workplace bullying as reasons for their deteriorating mental health.
Doctors and nurses are often under immense pressure, while their shift from clinical roles to managerial duties has become a response to such stress. Their clinical responsibilities take a tremendous toll on them. Hence, the transition seems more pronounced in the current times when the healthcare practitioner shortage makes them work far more than required.
The administrative jobs seem far more lucrative than many clinical jobs in healthcare. However, some of the clinical nursing specialties may still seem lucrative. There are many PMHNP programs online and degrees available for aspiring professionals willing to opt for lucrative careers in healthcare. A professional can earn a median salary of $146,311 per year.
However, you won’t be able to dispense your responsibilities if you cannot focus on your job. Therefore, it is very important to mitigate stress and toxicity from the work environment to preserve the health and well-being of health care professionals Menopause.
- The financial cost of burnout
Burnout is one of the results of a compromised mental health care workforce. It is a phenomenon where even the challenging and interesting work looks unbearable, unfulfilling, and meaningless. When you feel burned out, your energy changes into exhaustion and involvement becomes cynicism, and you seem ineffective in performing your job. The result is a loss of motivation and negative self-perception. You may start thinking that you do not deserve success. It often happens due to overworking and neglect of one’s own self. The negative perception translates into your view of activities happening around you.
Early retirement resulting from burnout is immensely impacting the healthcare industry financially. According to research carried out by Holdren and colleagues (2015), the cost of replacing each registered nurse can be as much as $67,000 per nurse. Therefore, when hospitals become negligent about the health and well-being of their workers, they must calculate how much it will cost them in monetary terms.
- Low patient satisfaction
Patient satisfaction indicates the perceived gap between the care received from the professionals and the care expected from them. This has often been used as an indicator to measure service quality. Unhappy and depressed healthcare professionals cannot provide the best service to the patients. They do not only risk their profession by working in their current state but also put others’ lives in jeopardy. Patients also show less inclination to get treatment from seemingly aloof and careless healthcare professionals. They come to the hospital to get the best service, whereas a stressed soul is not in a position to provide them the best care they expect.
On the contrary, mentally fit professionals are often the go-to choice for patients. Besides, we all know that regardless of the development in advertising, word of mouth marketing is still the best form of advertising when choosing healthcare professionals. Satisfied customers often spread the good word about the healthcare professionals from their recent encounters.
- Frequent mistakes and increased absenteeism
Stress in healthcare professionals can lead to frequent mistakes. A small mistake such as administering the wrong dose of medication or an overdose of anesthesia can cost them and the patients a lot. Research has also pointed out a relation between errors and distress several times. Additionally, there are more chances for such professionals to be named in medical malpractice lawsuits.
Mental health and well-being are essential because stress can lead to more absenteeism, lack of tolerance, and other workplace-related issues. Mentally disturbed people also lack empathy and report decreased concentration and motivation to put in more effort.
Conclusion
Well-being is important for the overall health and productivity of a workforce, but it’s often overlooked. Research has shown that happy employees are more productive than unhappy ones because they work better.
But the right workforce means energetic professionals who are empathetic towards their customers and concentrate on their job to provide the best service. Neglecting the well-being of healthcare practitioners can result in low patient satisfaction, negative patient outcomes, and low turnover.
