The COVID-19 pandemic has ratcheted up the pressure on healthcare workers around the country, leading to unprecedented levels of burnout. Sandra Berreth, RN, director of the surgical service line at Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Foothill Surgery Center at Sansum Clinic, said she sees it in her staff — but her clinic has found an effective way to fight it.
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What are some of the best ASCs doing to make sure that their staff resilience is replenished after this challenging year?
Sandra Berreth: One of the things that we try to encourage is staff working together for the betterment of the patient. Our first concern, of course, is safety of the patients. And after that, our next concern is actually the patient's emotional ability to understand what's happening and that we are there for them. For instance, a staff member sees the patient preoperatively, but they also take care of the patient post-operatively.
So that patient recognizes that staff member, but the other thing it does is it engages the staff member with that patient. So if they're coming in for a biopsy, the staff member goes, "The biopsy was done, it was completed." And then they're also engaged in what that biopsy shows so that they can show the patients that we really care about you.
The engagement of the staff person then helps build the esteem in that person that, "I am helping. I am making a difference. And even though I'm dead tired, because I've been running all day today, I can come back tomorrow and do it again because our patients need that."
And it mostly happens when there's connection, human connection that means something to both individuals.