How to Boost Resilience for Healthcare Workers Facing Burnout

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Under normal circumstances, healthcare workers have to do their jobs facing constant challenges. And then came the pandemic. Overworked, exhausted and running on fumes, many crashed and burned due to burnout.

Frontline workers were forced to reconsider their career choices while others questioned whether it was worth compromising their mental health. According to The National Institutes of Health, healthcare essential workers are still reporting and facing burnout symptoms caused by the Pandemic including increased stress, depression, and anxiety.

An Unwanted Legacy From the Pandemic (COVID-19)

The pandemic may have ended but the emotional scars remain for thousands of medical workers. Losing family members and colleagues to a virus that renders you helpless snatches a part of your soul.

Bearing witness to death and illness further exacerbates the emotional toll. While the rest of the world has moved on, the legacy of COVID-19 overshadows the healthcare industry. The World Health Organization (WHO) says prolonged exposure to excessive stress can result in harmful consequences and include:

• Burnout

• The onset of common mental disorders like anxiety, depression, PTSD

• Drop in productivity and frequent absenteeism from work

• Increased risk of suicide

While the pandemic burden has lessened, healthcare workers are still leaving their professions, contributing to staff shortages and a gap in primary healthcare services. If anything, COVID-19 has underscored the mental health struggles healthcare workers face on an ongoing basis. 

This article will examine the mental health challenges, the impact of burnout on patient care, and practical strategies to support resilience and well-being in the healthcare sector.

Understanding Healthcare Burnout

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The Journal of General Internal Medicine published a cross-sectional survey comprising physicians, nurses, and clinical and non-clinical staff. The overall burnout rate was 49.9% workforce wide, while Nurses accounted for 56% and Physicians at 47.3%.

Symptoms of Burnout

WebMD explains burnout as a form of exhaustion caused by constantly being busy. Emotional, physical and mental fatigue can take its toll and manifest as burnout.

Although the condition isn’t medically diagnosed, it can affect your physical and mental health. Understanding the symptoms is crucial to treating it.

There are three main signs of burnout. There are:

•  Feeling exhausted

• Negativity about your job

• Inability to perform your job

Types of Burnout

Mental health expert Dr Jake Goodman explains there are three types of burnout: overload, under-challenged and neglected.

• Under-challenged happens when you feel underappreciated and bored. This could lead to distancing yourself and avoiding responsibilities. 

• Neglect burnout is believing you’re not competent at doing your job. Experts say this type of burnout is closely connected to imposter syndrome.

• Overload burnout is common in the healthcare profession. Sometimes, your drive to succeed is set with impossible expectations, compromising your health and personal life.

The Role of Social Workers

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Social workers are healthcare professionals that touch the lives of people from all walks of life. There are several pathways to advancing a career in social work. An online Master of Social Work (MSW) is one way to leverage your career and education.

Advanced Standing Online MSW programs are in demand as advanced standing students choose to study a field that enables them to improve the lives of others. Also, obtaining an online advanced standing MSW from a leading educational institute opens the door to filling the role of social work practitioner, educator or researcher.

Admission requirements are stringent and entail a Bachelor's degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited institution, a minimum of 400 hours of field education and transcripts with a minimum GPA of 3.0. If you don't have a degree in social work, you can register for an Online Master of Social Work (MSW) degree program. The career outcomes are as promising. Many licensed clinical social workers start with this degree to gain a solid social work education.

The program teaches practice skills, offers field placement and qualifies you as a licensed social worker. Thereafter, you decide if you want to continue with an advanced standing program to be eligible for advanced clinical social work.

Students who take the full-time option can graduate in two years. Once you’ve graduated from the MSW program, you can apply for management-level positions and participate in policy development.

How Social Workers Support Their Peers?

About 173,000 social workers are employed in the U.S. They work in schools, research institutes and childcare services. Their role is more nuanced in healthcare; providing a crucial service for families, children, pregnant women and anyone who needs their help.

Social workers in a hospital setting offer emotional support to patients and their families and dispense after-discharge care and home services. According to Advance Community Health, social workers provide about 60% of the mental health services in the U.S. Not many know this - they also advocate for patient rights and educate patients on their illnesses, symptoms and treatment strategies.

Collaboration is the key to producing positive results. Social workers can create guidelines for how departments work together and clarify roles. From the onset, they establish how to deal with disagreements. Transparency also plays a huge role in preventing friction among co-workers. Social workers act as mediators and present themselves as equal partners while giving everyone a safe space to share their grievances, fears and concerns.

Strategies to Building Personal Resilience

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Verywell Mind describes resilience as facing difficulties instead of falling into the same pattern of despair. It is defined as a mental reservoir of strength. The five characteristics of the trait are:

• Problem-solving

• Strong social connections

• Survivor mentality

• Emotional regulation

• Self-compassion

Promoting mental health resilience in the workplace takes a multi-pronged approach. Organizations can support their workers by ensuring a positive work environment. As for healthcare workers, there are ways to build personal resilience.

Recognize Your Feelings

Sometimes, all it takes is acknowledging what you are feeling is normal. Talk to someone you can trust such as a social worker or mental health practitioner. Verbalizing those emotions can lessen anxiety. Also, research additional tips on how to manage your stress.

Practice Self-Care

Self-care can take many forms. For some people, it’s a walk in the park and feeling the cool grass between their toes. Others prefer to meditate or do mindful breathing. Whatever you decide, remember that self-care is an activity you do for yourself. It brings you simple pleasures and moments of quiet joy.

Cultivate Kindness

It’s not easy staying positive when everyone around you is low and deflated. But one act of kindness can do wonders in lifting spirits, even yours. When you least expect it, you’ll get it back in return and before you know it, you’ve created a culture of kindness and recognition.

Resilience Training and Workshops

Healthcare leaders must take long-term steps to combat burnout among workers. Normalizing discussions about mental health can reduce the stigma. Establishing screening and prevention programs will help in monitoring the early signs of burnout, PTSD and other mental health conditions.

Overall, there must be a systematic shift. Healthcare systems must be driven by the needs of patients and healthcare providers, notes Insights in Public Mental Health. These changes could be reflected in policies, guidelines and other means of self-regulation.

Project HOPE

Just when we thought the end of the pandemic gave us breathing space, another issue popped up. It affects everyone, whether you subscribe to the notion or not.

2023 was the Earth’s warmest year on record, according to NASA. Climate change was recently called the biggest threat to global public health, spurring Deloitte US and Project HOPE to take action. Their collaboration culminated in a report to help healthcare professionals become more resilient and better prepared for climate-related emergencies. The report includes insights from frontline healthcare workers, health system advisors and policy experts.

Andrea Dunne-Sosa, senior director at Project HOPE, says the frontline health workforce is the heart of healthcare systems. Because of this, the report was published to arm healthcare workers with the skills needed to address the impact of climate emergencies on patients. 

However, institutions should also recognize that these changes may increase job stress, and contribute to mental health challenges and burnout among healthcare professionals.

The Importance of Support

Emotional peer support is a proactive solution for dealing with stressful situations. Citing a study from a few years ago, the American Psychological Association says social support bolsters resilience when people face nerve-racking conditions.

Emotionally supportive co-workers can make you feel capable of taking on any problem. They are your superpower. Your peers can also help you to focus on actionable steps to address your concerns.

Buddy Systems

The buddy system has proven effective on many fronts. Firstly, healthcare workers need to be surrounded by people who relate to their problems. The buddy system is the best form of peer support.

Secondly, it encompasses various supportive practices like regular check-ins, mentorship guidance and peer support groups.

Encouraging a Culture of Openness

If workers are struggling, it affects their productivity. Encouraging them to talk about their issues fosters a culture of openness and understanding.

A limited understanding of mental health in the workplace creates barriers between management and staff. It’s important to have people in the workforce who can break those barriers and practice empathy when dealing with people experiencing a mental slump.

Embrace Failure

So often, workers are reminded of where they went wrong. There’s a difference between highlighting someone’s failures and giving them constructive criticism. Many times, employees fear failing because it means letting the team down. But it doesn’t have to be viewed as such. Acknowledge the failure and attempt to rectify it. 

Taking responsibility means you’re on the road to success. Many great minds owned their mistakes and went on to change the world.

Trust and Transparency

Transparency fosters trust and respect. Without it, workers are wary of management. When you know what is expected of you, it creates a happy work environment. Being transparent can be several things. Address issues openly and give honest feedback.

Healthcare professionals are the backbone of the system, but their mental health is often overlooked amid the demands of patient care. By addressing burnout, healthcare organizations can offer mental health resources and foster a supportive environment. These key factors build resilience, improving worker well-being and patient care quality.

Social workers and other healthcare team members play a vital role by providing emotional support and advocating for systemic changes. For healthcare professionals, empathy involves addressing a patient’s physical health and their emotional, psychological, and social needs. Connecting on a human level boosts patient satisfaction, trust, and clinical outcomes.

Supporting healthcare workers' mental health is compassionate but also a critical investment in the well-being of providers and patients. The sooner institutions acknowledge this, the sooner change can happen. And for change to happen, everyone has to be on the same page.