Remember that there are three pillars to enhancing wellbeing in healthcare:
- Enhancing individual resilience and interpersonal communication
- Identifying and reducing unnecessary stressors
- Recognizing peer stress and knowing how to respond (stress first aid)
Necessary stressors are those that are inherent in the work we do – high acuity patients, grief and loss, high-stress work environments. Unnecessary stressors are those that do not have to exist. They often do, but they could be mitigated, such as broken equipment, supply chain issues, dysfunctional communication, inadequate staffing, medical error, and poor staff morale.
What might you do about these stressors?
One question that might be helpful, using Covey’s circle of influence model, ask yourself, “Is this in my circle of control, my circle of influence, or simply my circle of concern?” Your action will depend on which circle this stressor falls into.
Using a “3D” method is a useful, simple framework.
Discover: do some discovery work to learn a little more about the stressor
Discuss: talk this over with colleagues—what is their perspective? —and in the process you are building a coalition to begin the change process
Do something! Take some action to make things better.