This is going to hurt us: Women hit back at ‘belittling’ BBC portrayal of NHS labour ward

Here I am with @drclairekaye & @millihill for @mailplus on #ThisIsGoingToHurt

An important & complex conversation was had here on staff trauma, trust & safety.

View the media piece here

#ThisIsGoingToHurt

I would love to hear your ‘respectful’ thoughts and views here. I have to admit I watched in through my fingertips and found it quite triggering. This issue I have is that I would love to see the real lives of healthcare professionals portrayed through drama. Nevertheless, it is not a comedy out there.

I heard one interesting view from a woman who had experienced a traumatic birth. She found it cathartic and helpful to think of staff as being human in this way. What are your thoughts?

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Boats On An Ocean

Looking at the lives of healthcare workers through the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, this project explores their ‘human’ experiences – in contrast to the public and media portrayal of them as ‘heroes’.

The audio artwork is the representation of the stories, experiences and emotions of eight healthcare workers from Coventry and across the UK, gathered during an online creative workshop. From this, we identified seven themes, including the theme of the ‘hero’ narrative. While some might consider the label of ‘hero’ as praise, many of our healthcare worker participants explained that it sometimes caused feelings of guilt. A shift in focus is needed to recognise the emotional and physical toll for individuals. Adequate support is needed to help healthcare workers find meaning in their experiences.

LINK: https://coventrycreates.co.uk/project/boats-on-an-ocean/

#BoatsOnAnOcean

#BoatsOnAnOcean – Our audio art piece showcased via the #CoventryCreates digital exhibition….#CityofCulture2021

Click here to see and hear this work

Great to work with @KerryWykes, @LouiseMoodyCU, @lizzesparkes, @YourOldChina & Bharti Patel to represent healthcare workers experiences of #COVID19 in this way!

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 

Tobacco, alcohol & cannabis use among midwifery populations

 

Problematic substance use in midwifery populations is an uncomfortable topic to explore, yet:

There are human and financial costs associated with problematic substance use (PSU) among the healthcare workforce, which also has a significant role in medical negligence.This systematic integrative review presents an international summary of the evidence in relation to PSU in midwifery populations.There is limited evidence available in relation to PSU in midwifery populations in comparison to that available for other healthcare populations.As midwives form a part of the general healthcare workforce and are exposed to similar workplace stressors, it is likely that they would be similarly affected by PSU in the healthcare workplace.Future research could usefully capture contemporary data in relation to PSU in distinct midwifery populations.

Our latest review on this topic is the first of it’s kind. We hope this work will act as a useful foundation for future work in this area.

Pezaro, S., Patterson, J., Moncrieff, G., & Ghai, I. (2020). A systematic integrative review of the literature on midwives and student midwives engaged in problematic substance use. Midwifery, 102785.

“Healthcare professionals who engage in PSU have indicated that they worry about their PSU, have trouble getting along with others, provide less than their best patient care, have limited their commitment to patient care and seriously consider suicide (Kenna and Wood, 2004). Whilst it has not been possible to identify midwifery populations within such larger data sets, we concur with Weenink et al. (2017), who suggest that it is unlikely midwives are immune from such similar effects.”

“Being the first international systematic integrative review of PSU in midwifery populations, this article presents findings in relation to both midwives and student midwives working in three separate countries, identified from a total of three empirical studies (Deasy et al., 2014; Schluter et al., 2012; Watson et al., 2006). Substances used included tobacco, alcohol and cannabis. Problem substance use was broadly linked to longer working hours and coping with work-related stress via escape avoidance. Whilst the reasons for PSU remained unclear in the survey study by Watson et al. (2006), inferences are made by the authors that this coincided with local promotional ‘student nights’, where alcohol is discounted in price.”

To follow on from this review, we have collected data on PSU from midwives practising in the United kingdom. We hope to publish our results from this soon. You can follow our work on substance use in midwifery populations via this project page.

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 💚💙💜❤

References

Deasy et al., 2014 – C. Deasy, B. Coughlan, J. Pironom, D. Jourdan, P. Mannix-McNamaraPsychological distress and coping amongst higher education students: a mixed method enquiry. PLoS ONE, 9 (2014), pp. 1-23

 

Kenna and Wood, 2004 – G.A. Kenna, M.D. WoodAlcohol use by healthcare professionals. Drug Alcohol Depend., 75 (2004), pp. 107-116

Schluter et al., 2012 – P.J. Schluter, C. Turner, C. BeneferLong working hours and alcohol risk among Australian and New Zealand nurses and midwives: a cross-sectional study. Int. J. Nurs. Stud., 49 (2012), pp. 701-709

Watson et al., 2006 – H. Watson, R. Whyte, E. Schartau, E. JamiesonSurvey of student nurses and midwives: smoking and alcohol use. Br. J. Nurs., 15 (2006), pp. 1212-1216

 

 

 

Weenink et al., 2017 – J.W. Weenink, R.B. Kool, R.H. Bartels, G.P. WestertGetting back on track: a systematic review of the outcomes of remediation and rehabilitation programmes for healthcare professionals with performance concerns. BMJ Qual. Saf., 26 (2017), pp. 1004-1014

 

Exploring the narratives and experiences of Healthcare staff working through the COVID-19 Pandemic – Could you contribute?

“Don’t clap for me” “The health service is not staffed by heroes” and “’We are fragile, tearful, afraid, and we are human” are recent accounts voiced by healthcare workers, working through the COVID-19 pandemic (Anonymous 2020; Watson 2020).

In contrast to the common portrayal as invincible “heroes” or “saints”, it is increasingly recognised that healthcare workers (HCWs) working through the COVID-19 pandemic may be experiencing negative emotions and moral distress related to certain situations (Williamson et al. 2020). These situations may include: Being redeployed, witnessing the suffering of patients or colleagues, ethical decisions related to care, delivering bad news or making the decision to distance oneself from family or children. The wellbeing of HCWs, as well as having an impact on individuals and families, is intrinsically linked to the quality and safety of healthcare services so there is a pressing need to understand more, including how we can help (Pezaro et al. 2015; The Royal College of Physicians, 2015).

We know that even the smallest demonstrations of compassion can make a difference to individual HCWs: Small acts of kindness, caring language or the opportunity to be listened to for example (Clyne et al. 2018).  Williamson et al. (2020) state the importance of informal support and opportunities for discussion of events that may have caused moral distress to allow HCWs to process and make sense of events.

We are commencing a research study to explore the real narratives and experiences of HCWs working through the COVID-19 Pandemic, as well as where HCWs have experienced self and workplace compassion, using an arts-based research approach which includes creative writing, storytelling & theatre. Participants will contribute to the script for a piece of audio art-work that will creatively depict the emotions and experiences of healthcare professionals contrasted against the social celebration of them as ‘heroes’ during this Covid-19 pandemic. The recording aims to both give a truthful account of the HCW narrative during this crisis, whilst also being relatable, hopeful and human. It is hoped that it will be a point of stimuli for discussion for the general public and inform the development of additional resources to help HCWs debrief and recover.

Aspects of the arts-based research process itself, such as the opportunity to make sense of experiences through creativity, reflection and commonality with other participants, have been noted as “transformative” (Beltran and Begun 2014). Lennette et al. (2019) describe this type of research as an ongoing reflective process, in which the researcher and participants collaborate to expand the meaning of each individuals’ story and find links and common themes with those of other participants.

We are recruiting a small group of 4-6 healthcare workers to explore their experiences and narratives of COVID-19, within a 1-hour online workshop, taking place at the end of June. The group of HCWs will discuss their experiences and work with a writer, Nick Walker and theatre professionals from China Plate Theatre Company to create a piece of creative writing and a script for the audio artwork, which will be exhibited at a digital exhibition for Coventry City of Culture 2021. If you wish to take part, your information will be kept anonymous & confidential. You are under no obligation to take part.

China Plate are independent contemporary theatre producers of adventurous and imaginative new work with popular appeal and a social purpose. Their mission is to challenge the way performance is made, who it’s made by and who gets to experience it. Lead artist, Nick Walker is a Coventry-based writer, producer, and director. He was co-founder of theatre company, Talking Birds whose work has been presented across the UK, Europe, and the USA. He has worked with some of the country’s leading new work theatre companies including Stan’s Cafe, Insomniac, Action Hero and Theatre Absolute. His plays and short stories are regularly featured on BBC Radio 4, including 3 series of The First King of Mars (starring Peter Capaldi), and 6 series of Annika Stranded with Nicola Walker. He has a great deal of experience in writing plays and stories that are based on conversations/workshops with people around their real-life experiences, for example, exploring stories of male suicide with Coventry Men’s Shed. His writing has successfully fictionalised these experiences and made them relevant to a wider audience without losing their essence and truthfulness.

Date/time for workshop confirmed as: Wednesday 17th June 19:30

To request a Participant Information Sheet please email Kerry Wykes: ad3078@coventry.ac.uk.

References

Anonymous (2020) I’m an NHS Doctor and I’ve had enough of people clapping for me. The Guardian. [Online] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/21/nhs-doctor-enough-people-clapping

Beltran, R., & Begun, S. (2014). “It is medicine”: Narratives of healing from the Aotearoa Digital Storytelling as Indigenous Media Project (ADSIMP). Psychology and Developing Societies, 26, 155-179.

Clyne, W., Pezaro, S., Deeny, K., & Kneafsey, R. (2018). Using social media to generate and collect primary data: The #ShowsWorkplaceCompassion twitter research campaign. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 4(2), e41.

Pezaro, S., Clyne, W., Turner, A., Fulton, E. A., & Gerada, C. (2015). ‘Midwives overboard!’ inside their hearts are breaking, their makeup may be flaking but their smile still stays on. Women and Birth: Journal of the Australian College of Midwives, 29(3), 59-66

The Royal College of Physicians. (2015). Work and wellbeing in the NHS: Why staff health matters to patient care.

Lenette C, Brough M, Schweitzer R et al. (2019) ‘Better than a pill’: digital storytelling as a narrative process for refugee women, Media Practice and Education, 20:1, 67-86, DOI: 10.1080/25741136.2018.1464740

Williamson, V., Murphy, D., Greenberg, N (2020) COVID-19 and experiences of moral injury in front-line key workers, Occupational Medicine,  kqaa052, https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqaa052

Further reading…

Watson, C (2020) Nurses are no heroes – they’re just finally beginning to be recognised as they should. The Telegraph.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/nurses-no-heroes-just-finally-beginning-recognised-should/

http://talkingbirds.co.uk/pages/sitespecific.asp

http://saveourstories.co.uk/

 

THE CIRCLE OF TRAUMA FOR PARENTS & PROFESSIONALS #ThinkTraumaNow

Today, ‘Make Birth Better’ (@birthbetter) published it’s new report outlining the circle of Trauma for both parents and professionals. I am immensely proud to have contributed to this report and to work with other esteemed colleagues looking to make a difference in this context.

THE MAKE BIRTH
BETTER SURVEY 2019:
THE CIRCLE OF
TRAUMA FOR
PARENTS AND
PROFESSIONALS

The full report can be found here

#ThinkTraumaNow 

It really is so important that we recognise the trauma birth workers can experience as a result of their work. Many midwifery and obstetric staff are affected by vicarious trauma because of the events they have seen, the conditions they are working in and a lack of emotional support. This is significant because as well as birth workers being entitled to a psychologically safe professional journey, such psychological distress can also result in poorer maternity care.

As a result of this report, the following calls to action have been made:

1. Address trauma prevention for maternity staff and parents.

2. Think long-term about trauma treatment for maternity staff and parents in the future.

3. Act on the requests from Birthrights and The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) for maternity services to be ringfenced and for all women to be offered a safe and positive childbirth experience and ensure that new NHS England clinical guidance is followed

Click here to read more about this work and the #ThinkTraumaNow campaign

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 💚💙💜❤

EXPLORING PROBLEMATIC SUBSTANCE USE AMONG REGISTERED MIDWIVES – SURVEY

Due to #Coronavirus #COVID19 and this additional pressures this has placed on NHS staff, we have now closed this survey (earlier than planned). Thank you to all of those who responded. We hope to publish results as soon as we can.

There is a united level of concern for the health and wellbeing of midwives in the United Kingdom (UK), where recent research has shown that many experience work-related stress and burnout. Such experiences may lead to midwives being at particular risk of substance use/misuse. In fact, in a recent review of fitness to practise (FtP) cases, a number of those put before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) related to alcohol (n=208) and drug misuse (n=131).

Such episodes of addiction, alcohol and drug use are classed as individual health concerns. Yet, whilst they can leave a variety of healthcare professionals depleted, and both workplace safety and the safety of care compromised, relevant literature has thus far been largely dominated by the experiences and care of physicians. Consequently, researchers from Coventry University are now conducting the first nationwide study of registered midwives in relation to this issue.

Project Team:

@SallyPezaro

@GemmaSPearce

@karenmaher76

@Liz8ailey

@KongadiSahana

The aims of this study are:

• To investigate substance use among midwives registered in the UK
• To explore the perceptions of midwives registered in the UK in relation to midwifery impairment
• To explore perceptions of midwives registered in the UK in relation to organisational support
• To identify incidents of midwifery impairment
• To explore the help seeking behaviours of midwives registered in the UK with problematic substance use (PSU)
• To identify health risks among midwives registered in the UK with PSU

We are very grateful to the Royal College of Midwives for supporting recruitment to this study.

 

For further information, or if you have any queries, please contact me, the lead researcher, Dr Sally Pezaro (sally.pezaro@coventry.ac.uk).

Twitter handle: @SallyPezaro

We are also very grateful to UNISON for sharing this survey with their members

@unisontweets

If you would like to follow the progress of work going forward..

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 💚💙💜❤

 

The History of the Midwife

 

The following post is a guest blog by Nicole Allen:

We all know the process of childbirth, but it’s no less magical. Advances in science make the procedure very safe for both the baby and the mother in most countries. It’s routine for most hospitals, except in rare cases when the patient experiences complications. But this wasn’t always the case.

There are countless faces of midwives whose knowledge was passed on from generation to generation. Even today, there are would-be mothers in some parts of the world with no access to doctors who rely on midwives to deliver their babies.

“Midwife”, the common term used for a birthing assistant, comes from Middle English and literally means “with a woman”. In France, they call her (or him; there are male midwives) a “sage-femme” or “wise woman.” The profession predates the medical and nursing professions.

The Prehistoric Way of Giving Birth

Our many-time great-grandmothers birthed their babies with the help of midwives dating back at least as far as biblical times and probably before recorded history. The earliest evidence of the existence of midwifery can be traced back to an ancient Egyptian papyrus (1550 BC). This shows that midwives assisted women in child delivery for more than 2,000 years without assistance from trained professionals.

The American Way of Giving Birth

In the early American colonies, children were birthed with the help of skilled and practised midwives who came from Britain, who in turn transferred these same skills to other women in an informal manner. Later, when West African midwives reached the shores of America to be used as slaves, they assisted in birth too.

After their emancipation, African-American midwives offered their care to poor women,  in the rural parts of the South and were called “granny midwives.”

The American Indian tribes women continued to practice their own cultural birthing tradition, too, which sometimes included a midwife, female friend or relative.

The family experience of home birth narrated by Dervla Murphy in the book Untangling the Maternity Crisis supported the fact that most childbirth during the early 1900s was done at home. She was delivered at home in 1931.

Childbirth then was a regular occurrence at home and did not stimulate anxiety. Midwives were a familiar neighborhood figure who carried a big black bag during the birth of a neighbor.

The Medical Way of Giving Birth

In the last half of the 1800s, when medicine was professionalized in the US, midwifery became threatened as laws requiring formal education were slowly extended to midwives. Even though there were few midwifery schools, midwives were still needed and could not be totally eradicated since some doctors were unwilling to cater to poor populations. Some midwives continued to practice until the 1920s without government control.

It was in the 1910s and ’20s, the doctors started to lay down the foundation of a pathology-oriented childbirth medical model and usurp the traditional roles of midwives.

First, two studies found that the training most obstetricians received was poor and that hospitalization during birth would improve it. The poor, who most needed midwives, could go to charity hospitals instead. This would give the doctors more practice as well.

Then, in 1914, “twilight sleep”—delivery where the woman is anesthetized with a combination of morphine and scopolamine—was introduced. It was intended to relieve the pain and remove the memory of giving birth. This was widely accepted and desired by upper-class women.

About this time, a Dr. Joseph DeLee described childbirth as a destructive pathological process that damages the mother and the baby, and the only way to minimize this was through medically attended childbirth.

This claim made it impossible for midwives to facilitate child birth and made the use of ether, sedatives, forceps, and episiotomies routine. Child birth went from a physiological process to one in which the course of labor must be tightly controlled.

The value of midwives is being relearned, but there are new concerns.

Help for trauma

In more recent years, an aspect of the midwifery profession that is being looked into is the difficulties the midwives themselves experience during delivery. For instance, if s/he attends a traumatic birth, oftentimes s/he alone is there to handle it.

A 2015  study on the emotional and traumatic work of midwives and the commonly adversarial relationship with obstetricians (aptly titled “Midwives Overboard!”) shows that midwives may end up developing psychological and behavioral symptoms of distress, including compassion fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and secondary traumatic stress.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s increasing interest in the role of midwives underscores their importance in delivering children. Midwives play an important role in the achievement of its millennium development goals: reducing child mortality and eradicating maternal death. Midwives are a key element in the delivery of sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health (SRMNH) care worldwide, especially in rural areas.

To improve the delivery of patient care as well as the staff experience, maternity services must invest in the mental health and the well-being of all midwives, including nurse-midwives and obstetric nurses.

Also check out this article: Oh baby: seven things you probably didn’t know about midwives

Author Bio:
Nicole is a freelance writer and educator based in the Michigan and believes that her writing is an extension of her career as a tutor. She covers many topics like travel, mental health and education. She is a key contributor at Chapters Capistrano where she covers topics like addiction recovery, holistic treatments and health education. When she isn’t writing, you might find Nicole running, hiking, and swimming. She has participated in several 10K races and hopes to compete in a marathon one day.

Midwives experience domestic abuse too…so how can they be supported in the workplace?

On Thursday October 4th 2018, The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) launched a report entitled ‘Safe Places? Workplace Support for those Experiencing Domestic Abuse’ at its Annual Conference in Manchester Central.

I was privileged to be asked to perform and write up the analysis for this report. The findings truly moved me. If you know my work at all, you will know that it is heavily focused upon securing the psychological wellbeing of midwives. This is because I do not believe that excellence in maternity care can be delivered to mothers and babies without the provision of effective support for midwives.

Findings here revealed that some midwives trained to recognise domestic abuse and support women, were sometimes not recognising that they themselves are victims of domestic abuse.

“I was allowed to stay overnight on my delivery suite to avoid going home to my abusive partner”

“I was made to feel I was a nuisance, constantly asking me and contacting me, pressurizing me in to coming back to work. I gave in and did but I was soon off again as I still wasn’t well, and I then left midwifery because I didn’t want to be dismissed. I didn’t receive any support that was effective for me”

“I have and was been treated very badly by my place of work, absolutely no support or care and compassion”

“I was given a specific senior midwife who I could go to for support, to discuss things at times when home was particularly bad and to deal with any sickness absence – helpful as one person knew what was going on and I could be truthful, especially about the reasons for sickness absence sometimes”

“All staff should be asked about domestic abuse or violence on a regular basis”

“Police and social services were unhelpful, and no support provided. Neither I nor my children were offered counselling or directed to appropriate services despite asking several times for help. One police officer even commented that due to my ethnicity I could handle the situation myself.”

Based on the findings the RCM has put forward the following evidence-based recommendations. These will enable maternity service managers and NHS Trusts/Boards to support staff experiencing domestic abuse more effectively.

• All NHS Trusts/Health Boards should develop specific policies to support who are victims of domestic abuse, aligned to existing guidance from the NHS Staff Council developed in 2017.
• NHS Trusts/Health Boards should provide and publicise confidential domestic abuse support services for affected staff, including access to IDVAs, external counselling and legal services as appropriate.
• NHS Trusts/Health Boards should ensure that all managers and supervisors are trained on domestic abuse issues, so that they can recognise signs of domestic abuse in their staff and confidently undertake their safeguarding obligations.
•  NHS Trusts/Health Boards should ensure that staff at all levels are trained on domestic abuse issues and made aware of relevant workplace policies as part of their induction programme and continuous updating and are made aware of support services.

It was a pleasure to work with esteemed colleagues at the RCM to put this report together. Midwives and maternity support workers are a highly valued workforce whom we rely on to provide optimal care for mothers and babies. It is our sincere hope that this report will enable maternity service managers and NHS Trusts/Boards to support staff experiencing domestic abuse more effectively.

“Thank you to all of the midwives and maternity support workers who took part in this survey. The wellbeing of maternity staff is intrinsically linked with the safety and quality of maternity services. Your thoughts, feelings and experiences have helped us to arrive at a deeper understanding of the resources required to support those experiencing domestic abuse.”

If you would like to follow the progress of work going forward..

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 💚💙💜❤

How does patient and public involvement work in research? An example exploring midwives’ workplace wellbeing.

Patient and public involvement or #PPI is defined by INVOLVE (part of, and funded by, the National Institute for Health Research) as: 

“Research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them. This includes, for example, working with research funders to prioritise research, offering advice as members of a project steering group, commenting on and developing research materials and undertaking interviews with research participants.”

In our latest publication, we explain how patient and public involvement works in maternity service research. Here, we asked childbearing women about their experiences in relation to the workplace wellbeing of midwives. We also asked them how they felt about new research looking to create and test an online intervention designed to support midwives. We did this via a discussion group, where participants were offered refreshments and remuneration for their time. Our aim was to answer the following questions:

1. What are the perceptions of new mothers in relation to the barriers to receiving high quality maternity care?
2. What are the perceptions of new mothers in relation to the psychological wellbeing of midwives working in maternity services?
3. What are the perceptions of new mothers in relation to a research proposal outlining the development and evaluation of an online intervention designed to support midwives in work-related psychological distress?

These PPI activities helped us as researchers to do the following:

• Better understand this research problem from the perspectives of new mothers
• Validate the direction of future research plans
• Explore new areas for data collection based on what really mattered to mothers and their babies
• Improve upon the design of the proposed online intervention based on what really mattered to mothers and babies.

You can read our full methodology via the linked citation below:

Pezaro, Sally, Gemma Pearce, and Elizabeth Bailey. “Childbearing women’s experiences of midwives’ workplace distress: Patient and public involvement.” British Journal of Midwifery 26.10 (2018): 659-669.

This article was launched in the October edition of the British Journal of Midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives annual conference in 2018 #RCMConf18.

Put simply, the findings in relation to what participants said were analysed thematically and turned into meaningful insights or ‘PPI coutcomes’. In this sense, we used a co-design approach to inform the direction of new research. How did this work exactly? See figure below.

Initially, we considered that it may have been useful to include midwives in PPI activities, as they were to be the intended recipients of the intervention proposed. However, INVOLVE briefing notes state that:

“When using the term ‘public’ we include patients, potential patients, carers and people who use health and social care services as well as people from organisations that represent people who use services. Whilst all of us are actual, former or indeed potential users of health and social care services, there is an important distinction to be made between the perspectives of the public and the perspectives of people who have a professional role in health and social care services.”

A such, we could not include midwives in these PPI activities due to them having a ‘professional role in health and social care services’. Nevertheless, as midwives were the intended end users and direct beneficiary of the intervention proposed, we argued that they should “not necessarily be excluded from PPI activities simply because they treat patients”. This debate lends itself to further academic discussion and we welcome ideas on this going forward.

Both national and international strategies and frameworks relating to healthcare services tend to focus on putting the care and safety of patients first , yet these findings suggest that to deliver the best care to new mothers effectively, the care of the midwife must equally be prioritised. As such, we now intend to seek further funding to continue this work and secure excellence in maternity care.

If you would like to follow the progress of work going forward..

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 💚💙💜❤

19 Things That Show Workplace Compassion for Healthcare Staff

We are all well aware of how the wellbeing of healthcare staff can affect the quality and safety of care. I have also talked at length about the wellbeing of health care staff and the theories surrounding work-related psychological distress. But do we really have any concrete idea of what shows workplace compassion for healthcare staff?

My research published in collaboration with Dr. Wendy Clyne, Dr. Karen Deeny and Dr. Rosie Kneafsey asked Twitter users to contribute their views about what activities, actions, policies, philosophies or approaches demonstrate workplace compassion in healthcare using the hashtag #ShowsWorkplaceCompassion. It can be cited as follows:

Clyne W, Pezaro S, Deeny K, Kneafsey R. Using Social Media to Generate and Collect Primary Data: The #ShowsWorkplaceCompassion Twitter Research Campaign. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2018;4(2):e41. DOI: 10.2196/publichealth.7686. PMID: 29685866

The results of this study outlined 19 things or ‘Themes’ in relation to what shows workplace compassion for healthcare staff as follows…

	Leadership and Management
1	Embedded organizational culture of caring for one another
2	Speaking openly to learn from mistakes
3	No blame/no bullying management
4	Inspiring leaders and collective leadership
5	Financial investment in staff
6	Recognize humanity and diversity
	Values and Culture
7	Common purpose in a team
8	Feeling valued
9	Being heard
10	Enjoying work
11	Being Engaged at work
12	Use of caring language
	Personalized Policies and Procedures
13	Recognition of the emotional and physical impact of healthcare work
14	Recognition of non-work personal context
15	Work/life balance is respected
16	Respecting the right to breaks
17	Being treated well when unwell
	Activities and Actions
18	Small gestures of kindness
19	Provision of emotional support

How will you implement these things within your healthcare workplace? I would love to hear your thoughts on this…

If you would like to follow the progress of my work going forward..

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 💚💙💜❤