Combatting burnout in the healthcare industry

‘Burnout’ is a term we’ve been using since the 1970s, but we’ve only started to take stress and burnout seriously in more recent years. The World Health Organization has declared stress as the health epidemic of the 21st century and that is no surprise to anyone in our industry. 

It has been found that 400 staff are leaving the NHS every week due to the effects of stress, including burnout and PTSD, in the workplace. After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are struggling to cope. As one of the most passionate and necessary industries, how can we support those nurses, doctors and clinicians who are working today? 

Don’t sweat the small stuff

Burnout causes people to make mistakes such as duplications, incorrect information, and late data entry causing incorrect decision-making. But this can be alleviated through digital data collation. Radar Healthcare can support the day-to-day recording and documentation of patient activity and take away the anxieties of wondering if it was done right. 

Timestamps and activity logs along with notifications from Radar Healthcare ensure that workers can continue the job that their colleagues started, with confidence in knowing how to approach the task at hand, and with no ambiguity.

Changing the culture, process by process

The issue of burnout within the healthcare industry is not a sudden nor isolated incident. The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee reported last year that the NHS has hit an “emergency level”, and a “total overhaul” is needed to save the institution. With the NHS being such a large organisation with various groups, Trusts and departments, it has proven difficult to standardise processes and encourage change on a large scale. 

However, tracking quality across those different teams is possible with Radar Healthcare’s auditing module. The module allows users to audit their processes on the go, ensuring that the most accurate and updated information is being considered when assessing your teams. 

With our workforce compliance module, you can also ensure that the well–being of your staff is a focus too. Keeping tabs on employees’ training, accreditations and qualifications means that everyone is working to the level expected of them, and no one needs to stress about missed deadlines or renewing memberships – Radar Healthcare will remind you well before the date. 

Identifying when something goes right

Having peace of mind knowing that your staff are trained and equipped to do their job is essential, but it is equally important that your staff know they are also doing a good job too. 

Being able to log compliments in the same way that some organisations log complaints ensures that your teams can see that their hard work is paying off. Our partners have commented that using our incident management tool for logging compliments has increased staff positivity.

People experience stress differently and at varying levels but there is always a way to support colleagues and staff through small gestures like suggesting mental health first aid, and structural methods like putting procedures in place to alleviate stress and lessen the risk of burnout. Radar Healthcare can help with your team’s journey to better mental health. Find out how by requesting a consultation with us today.