workforce
Heal thyself
Not enough is being done to promote the importance of self-care and encourage its practice among palliative care professionals.
Jason Mills interviewed by Dallas Bastian
Most palliative care professionals agree that self-care is very important, but a considerable proportion rarely engage with relevant strategies, a new study has found.
The research, led by Jason Mills, a lecturer at Queensland University of Technology’ s School of Nursing, explores the perceptions, education and practices relating to self-care among palliative care nursing and medical professionals.
It finds that fewer than half frequently practise selfcare strategies during a working week, and just over a 10th do so rarely.
A majority of the survey’ s respondents also indicate they have not received education or training in the workplace about effective self-care strategies.
“ The use of self-care plans is reported to be an effective self-care strategy; however, there is very low uptake among palliative care nurses and doctors,” Mills’ s team concludes in their paper.
“ These limitations to self-care practice should be addressed through targeted training and selfcare education, as most indicated they would be receptive to this. Given that self-care practice is a professional expectation in palliative care, requisite education is necessary to support effective selfcare in the palliative care workforce. Such initiatives could promote greater understanding of self-care, awareness of domains, and uptake of self-care plans.”
Aged Care Insite sits down with Mills to discuss the importance of self-care and the different ways palliative care professionals can look after themselves.
ACI: What is self-care, and why is it important for palliative care professionals? JM: Self-care includes a variety of strategies or behaviours that people choose to promote their own good health and general wellbeing. And the literature tells us that self-care is especially important for those working in areas like palliative care because it offers a means to prevent or address workforce issues such as occupational stress or burnout, which have the potential to impact on one’ s own health as well as the quality of care provided to patients.
Why might some palliative care professionals forgo self-care? For some people, it may be a case of not appreciating the reality that unless you first take care of yourself, you’ re not likely to be in a good position to look after others in the long term. Health professionals are so focused on caring for others that sometimes thinking about your own health needs may not seem like a priority. Then again, other people might appreciate the importance of self-care, but they might find it difficult in practice because, for example, their workplace may not be entirely conducive to self-care practice.
28 agedcareinsite. com. au