4. Mental health and addictions
- Date: 2024-10-25
- Concurrent Session: Concurrent Session E
- Time: 9:45- 10:30 am
- Room:
- Style: Presentation (information provided to audience, with opportunity for audience to ask question)
- Focus: Balance between both (e.g. Presentation of a best-practice guideline that combines research evidence, policy issues and practical steps for implementation)
- Target Audience: Leadership (ED, clinical lead, board chair, board member, etc.) Clinical providers Administrative staff Representatives of stakeholder/partner organizations
Learning Objectives:
Participants will learn:
- The information shared will help healthcare organizations like ours:
- Change attitudes from an individual to an organizational level approach
- Reconnect with employees in a completely unconventional way and
- Use a systems approach to achieve success for both the individual as well as the organization
Summary/Abstract:
It is not unknown for healthcare workers to work under stressful environments, both physical and psychological, even before the pandemic. Stress accounts for 80% of all diseases in human beings and is currently the prime reason linked to mortality. On the other hand, burnout is a psychological response of health workers when exposed to continuously stressful situations. Burnout is a workplace-related issue and not a personal mental health diagnosis. In 2022, more than 40% of healthcare workers reported feelings of burnout. Burnout, resulting from stress, can cause not only some serious health problems in the individual but also serious issues for the organization. It can result in an overall operational failure of the workplace, leading to poor quality of patient care. For the organization, it could also mean increased health benefit costs because of higher usage of services, high employee turnover rate, and difficulty in filling job vacancies. Even though employee wellness programs have become an important topic for companies, most programs still focus on individuals rather than taking a systems approach to the problem. We utilized a systems approach and developed a program to build a functional team with increased resilience, courage, and confidence. The program is also geared towards helping employees manage their time, prioritize responsibilities, maximize work productivity, and enhance communications between colleagues, patients, and supervisors. The organization plans to continue investing in creating a strong culture of learning new information for a good cause, i.e., to change the lives of its employees as well as patients and achieve great heights for the organization.
Presenter:
- Dinny Mathew MBA, MPH, MBBS, RDCS, Executive Director Prescott Family Health Team
- Tim Mack MSW, Social Worker Prescott Family Health Team