— LISA ABBOTT
store and pick up a new doctor or a new nurse ,” he says .
According to Lisa Abbott , senior vice president for human resources and community affairs at Lifespan , the state ’ s largest hospital group , clinician burnout was already an epidemic long before COVID-19 swept across the country . Beginning in 2017 , the organization hired a consultant to conduct a survey and develop recommendations for preventing burnout in staff . The results , published as a study in the American Journal of Medicine , included everything from meeting basic needs — ensuring clinicians have time to use the bathroom and access to healthy snacks — to safeguarding more complex needs such as publishing or teaching as an actualization of their work .
Following some changes , she says , the organization began to see modest improvements . Then , COVID-19 disrupted everything .
“ What I tend to say is when COVID first hit , people were running on adrenaline . When the second wave hit , people were running on fumes . And when the third wave hit , people ran away ,” she says .
Lifespan doubled down on its emotional and mental health initiatives , supports that became even more important as the pandemic inflamed an already brewing staffing crisis . As of March , Lifespan had about 2,300 vacancies across all its facilities , up from 800 pre-pandemic but down from about 2,600 at the height of the omicron surge . As hospitals find themselves increasingly in competition for a limited supply of workers , employee well-being has become as much about attracting new staff members as protecting the health of the ones already there . More recent efforts
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF LIFESPAN .
Dr . Bradley Collins using one of the meditation rooms at Miriam Hospital .
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