In Times of Trouble , Fostering Well-Being Is Key to Retention , Quality of Care
As the pandemic progressed , leadership in both organizations began to be more visible to staff and sought to provide support in ways that would build trust . It was a challenge to provide real support that would be meaningful to staff . According to Smith , “ Cakes and treats and cookies are wonderful , but that ’ s not what our staff needs right now . What they want is help and support .” Both leadership teams wanted to be seen on the floors helping and supporting their caregivers .
Smith and his team of six educators believe trust between providers and educators is key . “ We ’ ve gotten very creative with our education … we ’ ve been doing microlearning . We ’ ve certainly been relying on HealthStream for lectures and modules . We ’ ve been doing all kinds of creative things to try to support the nurses so they know they can trust us . My educators have been on the floors helping . They ’ re not sitting back here every day educating , they ’ re going up and doing support . They ’ re relieving nurses for lunches . They ’ re doing patient care sometimes . For over two years , we ’ ve gone up to ICU to help prone patients who are on ventilators . We ’ re out there with them fighting the fight , building that trust , building that relationship .”
Meaningful support programs have been put in place in both hospitals . At Peterson Regional , support began with a series of resiliency sessions , lasting about two hours each . “ We wanted to start talking with our staff about burnout and resiliency . We wanted to give staff space to talk about the things they were scared of . What we know is when you don ’ t own what is keeping you up at night , then it continues to keep you up at night … We wanted to talk about how not to stay in
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