We are all well aware of how the wellbeing of Healthcare Staff can affect the quality and safety of care. I have also talked at length about the wellbeing of health care staff and the theories surrounding work-related psychological distress. But do we really have any concrete idea of what shows workplace compassion for healthcare staff?
My research published in collaboration with Dr. Wendy Clyne, Dr. Karen Deeny and Dr. Rosie Kneafsey asked Twitter users to contribute their views about what activities, actions, policies, philosophies or approaches demonstrate workplace compassion in healthcare using the hashtag #ShowsWorkplaceCompassion. It can be cited as follows:
The results of this study outlined 19 things or ‘Themes’ in relation to what shows workplace compassion for healthcare staff as follows…
| Leadership and Management | |
| 1 | Embedded organizational culture of caring for one another |
| 2 | Speaking openly to learn from mistakes |
| 3 | No blame/no bullying management |
| 4 | Inspiring leaders and collective leadership |
| 5 | Financial investment in staff |
| 6 | Recognize humanity and diversity |
| Values and Culture | |
| 7 | Common purpose in a team |
| 8 | Feeling valued |
| 9 | Being heard |
| 10 | Enjoying work |
| 11 | Being Engaged at work |
| 12 | Use of caring language |
| Personalized Policies and Procedures | |
| 13 | Recognition of the emotional and physical impact of healthcare work |
| 14 | Recognition of non-work personal context |
| 15 | Work/life balance is respected |
| 16 | Respecting the right to breaks |
| 17 | Being treated well when unwell |
| Activities and Actions | |
| 18 | Small gestures of kindness |
| 19 | Provision of emotional support |
How will you implement these things within your healthcare workplace? I would love to hear your thoughts on this…
If you would like to follow the progress of my work going forward..
Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog
Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other
