When an animal is shot and bleeds to death, did it “Suffer from a bleed-out” ? No, it was shot & killed by the hunter – that’s the truth and that’s the main narrative. ‘Bleeding out’ was a natural consequence. Yet in healthcare, it feels as though the narrative has been cleverly turned on it’s head and reflected back on healthcare workers as “suffering from a burn-out” while giving the culprit workplace a pass.
With burnout being the chief narrative, the burden & focus to treat it is conveniently shifted to workers ! Indeed , hospitals and clinics have introduced interventions to ‘fix the worker’ with focus on ‘training’ on coping skills, improving mental health, team building , counselling, pizzas 🍕, mindfulness, empathy etc. The real workplace culprits such as excessive workload, high patient to staff ratios, disruptive patients and clinicians, the burden of documentation, ever-changing rules and laws, excessive regulations, professional stagnation and superhuman expectations are either swept under the rug or unfortunately ignored. Even Pubmed search on burnout prevention and treatment is chock-full of coping strategies for healthcare workers instead of actually changing the workplace.
Why isn’t there a catchy, mainstream, meme-worthy term for the culprit workplace ? Since we are calling it burnout for providers, then would the meme “Dumpster Fire” be an appropriate official term ? Or maybe ‘Toxic Workplace Environment’ makes the cut ? Toxic workplaces need to be the main narrative. Burnout is only a symptom, not the disease. Treating cough is never the main intervention in a pneumonia, treating the infection is. Likewise treating burnout shouldn’t be the main intervention, de-toxifying the workplace should be.
It irks me that Burnout has it’s own ICD-11 code (QD85) and it’s own WHO definition . Interestingly, the WHO first called Burnout a disease, a few hours later changed it from ‘disease’ to ‘phenomenon’. This I agree with, but only because Toxic Workplace Environment is the actual disease and it absolutely needs it’s own ICD code ! Dr. Sinksy of the American Medical Association(AMA) says it right : “The best response to burnout “is to focus on fixing the workplace rather than focusing on fixing the worker,”. Maybe the Surgeon General’s advisory on burn out published in 2022 is a start ?
Some argue there simply isn’t enough medical staff to make a better workplace happen anymore, or “they always complain”. That reminds me of the famous quote from the movie ‘Field of Dreams’ – “If you build it, he will come” . Build a better healthcare workplace that workers actually enjoy, they will come …and stay.
Don’t miss these fun posts! Subscribe via email 📩 | |
