5/6/2023 0 Comments Mindful urgent care![]() ![]() Burnout affects physical health as well, correlating to cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal disorders. Psychological morbidity including depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem are all potential consequences of burnout and work-related stress. The effects of burnout can come in many forms. ![]() As Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and many others have observed, professional EoL caregivers often withdraw from the bedsides of dying patients due to the lack of capacity to cope with the emotions that precede death. These alarming burnout figures are largely rooted in the intense emotional and existential nature of caregiving work having established trust and relational bonds to competently support terminally ill patients, EoL care professionals would eventually need to face the death of their patients with little support for their experience of grief and loss. Repeated studies have found that frontline healthcare workers including EoL professionals in Singapore experience high levels of burnout rates at 71.8% to 80.7%, well surpassing those reported in the US which stood at 47% to 70%. It is a psychophysiological reaction to chronic work-related stress, causing caregivers to lose concern for whom they are caring, and resulting in a ‘literal collapse of the human spirit’. Thereafter, it will introduce a novel, integrative, multimodal arts-and-mindfulness based intervention as a professional imperative parallel to clinical training and supervision, to equip EoL professionals with the necessary resilience and emotional regulation for reducing and coping with work-related stress.īurnout is defined as “a state of exhaustion in which one is cynical about the value of one’s occupation and doubtful of one’s capacity to perform”. This article will first provide an overview on the impact of burnout, and delineate the important role that emotional regulation supported though expressive arts and mindfulness practices can play in reducing work-related stress. Such stressors, when prolonged, can result in burnout and if not properly managed, can prove detrimental to the physical and mental health of professionals, with effects trickling down to patients, colleagues, family, and friends and posing threats to both quality of patient care and personal life. In addition to these daily demands, repeated encounters with loss and grief, insufficient support, lack of self-care and mounting spiritual distress are some of the most common strains EoL professionals struggle with, despite organizational and personal efforts at mitigating these burdens. These include the necessity for excellent responsiveness, efficiency, clinical capability as well as emotional competence. Head & Associate Professor, Psychology, School of Social Sciences Joint Honorary Associate Professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine Deputy Director of Research, Palliative Care Centre for Excellence in Research and Education Nanyang Technological University Singapore.Ĭaring for the dying and the bereaved pose complex and multifaceted demands on professional end-of-life (EoL) caregivers such as physicians, nurses, social workers, counselors and allied health workers. ![]() Dr Andy Hau Yan HO President, Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC), USA. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |