Resiliency And Compassion Programs Achieve Strong Outcomes
Background
The James, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, developed a sustainable Relationship-Based Care culture that supports professional resiliency and compassion. As a result, they increased staff resilience by nearly 10%. Their overall culture work achieved national recognition: the 2016 Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence award for Patient Experience in Inpatient Care, and the Medical Intensive Care Unit Finalist for the Schwartz Center National Caregiver of the Year award.
Challenge
In healthcare, we know that poor Wellbeing and moderate to high levels of burnout within staff are associated with poor patient safety outcomes such as medical errors. (Hall, et al. 2016) Moreover, compassion fatigue is not only a critical factor in patient safety but in staff turnover as well. While most organizations view retention as a “key strategic imperative” it is often not evident in operational practice/planning. The James sought to change that. They had far reaching goals for their culture of caring:
1. Develop practices that build positivity, resilience and capacity for relationship-based caring.
2. Demonstrate how to maintain self-awareness and compassion during challenging healthcare events.
3. Demonstrate compassionate communication and engagement across disciplines.
Innovations
The James resiliency program was innovative. The resiliency initiatives honor the importance of James nurses and enhance all caring relationships; including care of patients/families, colleagues, self and community.
The resilience program was operationalized through 18 separate initiatives including:
Team Building Retreats
3-4-hour staff retreats focused on developing a resilient & caring team.
Peer Support
Brief Emotional Support Team (B.E.S.T.) Training staff to provide peer support by building skills for collegial support during challenging events. 164 staff have completed the 4-hour course.
STAR Program: Stress, Trauma And Resilience
A critical incident stress debriefing team available 24/7 providing resources for unit staff to pause & reflect during particularly difficult situations. Provided support to approximately 300 staff members in 2016.
Essence of Nursing Blog
A blog dedicated to caring that seeks to create community and stimulate dialog.
Clinical Ladder
Advancement acknowledges clinical caring and excellence.
Organizational Accomplishments
Boyle, D. A. 2015. “Compassion Fatigue: The cost of caring.” Nursing (Nursing) 45(7), 48-51.
Hall, Louise, Judith Johnson, Ian Watt, Anastasia Tsipa, and Daryl B. O’Connor. 2016. “Healthcare Staff Wellbeing, Burnout, and Patient Safety: A Systematic Review.”
PLOS ONE 11 (7). Accessed 8 16, 2017. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0159015.
Singer, T, and M Botz. 2013. Compassion: Bridging Practice and Science. Palo Alto: EBook
