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When people think about burnout within healthcare, they typically think of struggles experienced by heroes on the frontlines, like doctors, nurses, and EMTs. Trying to administer care during a pandemic with a confused and sometimes hostile public has left many of our frontline healthcare workers isolated, frustrated and ready to leave the industry entirely.
But the strain of staffing shortages amid an ongoing health crisis has had a continuing impact on all levels of an organization, including on permanent and even interim leadership. As president of a company that works with health organizations in need of leadership, I have seen this impact firsthand. Before accepting your next assignment, take stock of your own mental and emotional well-being and consider the following strategies:
Tip 1: Know what you're getting into.
It's critical that before you start a new opportunity you have a complete understanding of the organization you're joining — its strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities, but especially any new pressures and hardships resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking on larger-than-life organizational challenges you're neither expecting nor prepared for is a sure way to jeopardize your own emotional well-being.
Tip 2: Don't settle for being treated like a number.
Make sure you are working with an agency that cares about you as a person and professional, and has a deep appreciation for your unique contributions as part of a healthcare team. You want to be sure you are working with someone who takes the time to understand your goals and works hard to match you with the right opportunities. Don't settle for working with an agency that doesn't care about you — find one that values your skills and experience and treats you with respect.
Tip 3: Use your unfamiliarity with a new organization to your advantage.
Starting out in a new location can add to the initial discomfort of a new post — or it can be an opportunity to explore and take your mind off the stresses of running a healthcare facility. You can even use your newness as a means to foster relationships at work by soliciting local restaurant and entertainment reviews from your new peers or scheduling team-building activities outside the facility.
Tip 4: Get real.
Don't underestimate the harm that the current environment can do to the well-being of healthcare workers — both your colleagues' well-being and your own. Consider Dr. Kelly Cawcutt's response to the suggestion that burned-out physicians just take more time for themselves: "What frequently happened was so much advice of, 'Oh you just need more self-care. You should sign up for a yoga class.' Well, my individual yoga has nothing to do with the system that is starting to fail and overstretching us where we can't do our jobs the way we need to."
While self-care is absolutely important on an individual level, it is still but a single human response to massive systemic strain. It doesn't solve the inequities of American healthcare, the fear brought on by the pandemic, the public's resistance to adopting and maintaining protocols to slow virus transmission or the isolation that masking and PPE contribute to. Keep in mind, too, that all of this is in addition to the conditions that led healthcare CEOs to consider clinician burnout a crisis even before the pandemic.
While vaccines and behavior modification have helped stem the tide of COVID patients overrunning our hospitals, burnout remains a very real concern among healthcare practitioners, including interim leaders, and it's not one that can be quickly fixed with happy talk. As a leader, it's essential you take the time to assess and understand your own mental health so that when you head to your next assignment, you're equipped and ready to continue the fight.