In recent years, it has started to be recognized that burnout is increasing exponentially in the healthcare industry, and public awareness of burnout and other mental health issues has grown. Unfortunately, the response from governments, health care facilities and policy makers has been more than inadequate.
Instead of addressing the root causes of staff burnout and mental distress, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, what has been done? These were buried under an avalanche of kits and tools to help staff build resilience.
At first glance, providing resources for healthcare professionals to maintain or improve their mental health is commendable. Who could object to this? But it’s the wrong approach at the wrong time, and it has negative consequences.
Defining burnout as a lack of resilience is a classic example of making victims feel guilty. It comes down to shoveling the causes, effects, and solutions back into the hearts of those who are suffering from the problem.
Let’s be clear: there is nothing wrong with offering training or resources that take advantage of, for example, mindfulness, yoga, meditation, breathing exercises or visualization to build resilience. These tools can be valuable allies in dealing with the crisis, and I am sure many people in the health care sector are using them and appreciating the benefits.
But these are only temporary solutions.
Toolkits and online resources for building resilience do not address the real causes of the exhaustion and psychological distress plaguing the sector. These problems arise from policies and the system as a whole, not from shortcomings in personnel.
Among the groups I represent, Canada’s Medical Radiation Technologists, who provide radiation therapy to people with cancer and deal with x-rays, nuclear medicine, magnetic resonance imaging and CT scans, which allow doctors to diagnose and provide medical treatment, burnout is rampant.
Promoting resilience is not a solution to understaffing, unreasonable workloads or insufficient time off. These are the issues that need to be addressed, and only governments, employers and health leaders can do it.
Health policy makers at the federal, provincial and institutional levels need to seriously address this issue. Those with the power and access to the levers of change must stop hiding behind questions of attribution spheres or focusing only on costs to justify inaction.
The pandemic has shown us that when governments face a national crisis, they can collaborate and overcome enormous challenges. Canada emerges from the pandemic weakened, but relatively unscathed compared to other countries. Much of this is due to the people who work at the heart of our health systems.
When you try to turn up the sound of the radio to drown out a disturbing engine noise, you end up reaping the consequences. If we don’t protect our health workers as a precious commodity, we will have problems.
We’re getting through the pandemic pretty well, although the Omicron variant is threatening. But if we continue on the current path, we risk being hit, including for the next health emergency. And we will have no one to blame but ourselves.
There are remedies for the situation; let’s not treat it as an incurable disease. We have not exhausted all of our resources. On the contrary, we are just beginning to make the diagnosis.
Health workers need more than what we do – and deserve our efforts. We owe these people a strong will to act to protect their health and well-being, just as they protect ours.
We have an obligation to address the systemic issues that undermine the morale, health and mindset of our health care troops.
Our goal should not be limited to ensuring their survival: these workers deserve to be accomplished.