A new survey highlighting the issues staff in emergency departments face suggests they may have the answers to improve care for everyone, a researcher says.
Auckland Hospital emergency medicine consultant Dr Mike Nicholls asked 1372 staff across 22 of the 25 EDs in New Zealand about their workplace wellbeing between March and April 2020. They included doctors, nurses and others in non-clinical roles.
The anonymous survey found many staff said barriers for their wellbeing in the workplace were mostly about leadership issues, constrained resources and insufficient professional development opportunities. More than 50 per cent surveyed reported feeling burnt out.
Many participants said there was a need for increased numbers of doctors and nurses so both staff and patients could be safe.
“It’s good to have knowledge … but, actually, what we need to do is to take it a step forward to figure out what we can do to improve,” Nicholls told Breakfast.
He added that it would take “a little bit of common sense” to start implementing changes that would improve the work situations of ED staff. But, he noted there was “no silver bullet”.
“The reason we come to work is to do a great job and that involves caring for our patients, providing high-quality care for our patients. So things that get in the way of that reduce our wellbeing. If we’re able to do a great job for our patients, that will improve our wellbeing.”
That meant increasing professional development, increasing resourcing and encouraging a great team environment, he said.
The department has been facing over-crowding issues for months, affecting staff and patients alike. (Source: Other)
“I suspect that a lot of the answers are already in front of us. I think what may be required predominantly is a somewhat change in mindset to taking an investment approach to improving the conditions at work, to improving our healthcare.”
He said while that could mean greater upfront costs, the investment would pay off in the long term.
“Our staff do have many answers, but I’m not sure if we’re being listened to quite as much as we could be,” Nicholls said.
Sue Stebbeings, the chair of the College of Emergency Nurses, agreed with the survey’s findings.
While the survey was carried out last year, Stebbeings said “things are worse currently”.
“We’re hearing reports of high levels of stress,” she said.
“The time to make good decisions, the time to provide pain relief, antibiotics, a friendly face. They [nurses] are just totally under time pressure and that creates increased stress. They don’t feel they can provide safe care, at times.”
Stebbeings said ED staff were also reporting instances of physical and verbal abuse against them.
She said nurses were speaking up because they wanted solutions.
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