Health care is tough work. It takes lots of energy – each physical and mental – to point out up day after day, help patients through their health issues and be there when a health issue can’t be helped. Naturally, health care is an industry that draws lots of service-minded people. But irrespective of how much we would like to offer, we will only give a lot before we begin to risk burnout.
Burnout is a posh, multifaceted topic. But knowing what keeps us well, what keeps our work sustainable, is at the core of avoiding it. So what actually does those things? And the way can we nurture those qualities in our care systems?
On this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Natalia Dorf Biderman, who’s a hospitalist at Methodist Hospital and the co-chair of the HealthPartners clinician well-being taskforce. During our conversation, she gave us answers to those and many other questions related to well-being, burnout and what she sees as a crucial part of the solution: belonging. Take heed to the episode or read the transcript.
Taking comfort further
Dr. Dorf Biderman believes that burnout is an environmental issue that expresses itself through individuals. So while a robust sense of belonging might not be the whole solution, she sees it as a major part. But as she points out, we’ve historically considered belonging, not less than at work, in a one-dimensional way – as comfort.
That’s to not say that being comfortable at work is unimportant. Feeling like you possibly can go to work as your full self and be valued and respected is amazingly necessary. Dr. Dorf Biderman’s point is that a deeper sense of belonging may be achieved through the use of comfort as a place to begin. From a spot of comfort, we then have the opportunity to construct authentic connections with the people around us. We are able to take a look at the missions and visions of our organizations and truthfully reflect on where they resonate most with us. And once we’ve these connections to our peers and our work, we will then start contributing in the ways which might be best suited to our individual talents and preferences, with the assurance that we’ll be supported.
Dr. Dorf Biderman has data to support this stance. As she describes it, when people feel like they belong where they work, there’s a 56% increase in performance, a 50% reduction in turnover and a 75% decrease in sick days. In turn, these statistics translate to organizations more widely. Organizations with a robust sense of worker belonging are multiple times more prone to achieve financial and business goals. They’re also far, much more prone to be high-performing and revolutionary. The through-line, and the message, are clear: belonging matters.
We are able to change the environment
Dr. Dorf Biderman also stresses the importance of personal agency in constructing a way of belonging, particularly for frontline health care staff. We don’t must wait for policy mandates or decisions from leadership to foster comfort, connection and contribution. In lots of cases, it’s simply a matter of acting on observations. What’s working? What isn’t? What are the knowns and unknowns?
Each of us has opportunities to make our work environment more open and authentic. We are able to share our opinions, even when the first few times are simply to see how they’re received. We may encourage others to share their opinions. We are able to volunteer our time and our talents to our peers and invite them to do the same. It’s the Golden Rule, a classic two-way street that permits us to construct each community and a sustainable practice from the ground up.
Some parts of working in health care are at all times going to be hard. Dr. Dorf Biderman shows us the importance of focusing as a substitute on uplifting what’s rewarding. At the end of the day, many of us work in health care because we care about relationships. We wish to assist people, and that ought to include one another. Extending our empathy to everyone we work with makes our work higher and helps us keep doing it. To listen to more from Dr. Dorf Biderman about authenticity, lessons from the pandemic and defining the midpoint between Canada and Chile, hearken to this episode of Off the Charts.