The Impact of Work Pressures on the Health and Well-being of Healthcare Workers

Abstract

If you walk through a health service in any developed country, and probably those in any developing country also, you are likely to hear the staff and the public expressing their concerns about the stresses and strains of the service. The health service, it seems, has become a hotbed of complaints about difficult and demanding conditions. The management of the health service is also distressed. The health service is an immensely expensive operation and the costs are increasing. Furthermore, the budget is a straightjacket that is ever tightening. Not only do more and more people need the services but, as our ability to provide new treatments increases, the range of services expands and with it the demand for more resources. The government has concerns about the health service as part of its general concern about the need to limit public expenditure. In the last few budgets, the social security bill—much of it goes into the health service—or related costs have been major items for public spending reductions.
It is most unwise to speculate on the future of the health service. One trend is for certain jobs to be replaced by a new cadre of workers who have cheaper skills. Another trend may be for some services to be delivered in the public and others in the private sector but with much more patient power. The danger is that the mixed economy of health care delivering a global service fails to give enough priority to the people who deliver the service. Their reward, especially in psychological and emotional suffering, can be high. Burnt-out carers are no good to anyone, and if the service fails in meeting the needs of the carers we all suffer. Methods: This study involved a comprehensive process to develop a mapping document linking potential work-related risk factors in the healthcare industry to targeted outcomes. A health and safety consultant conducted seven focus groups across four selected healthcare-related industries with important stakeholders. The focus groups allowed for discussions and agreement, on the part of this diverse group, of any potential relationships that exist between work-related risk factors and targeted outcomes. The structured qualitative research method aided in organically expanding the range of possible risk factor and outcome combinations. Conclusion: In conclusion, work pressures related to the demands of the job and the wider impact of these demands on health and well-being cannot be underestimated and should feature highly on the agenda for healthcare workers and their employers. Addressing this issue will mean safeguarding the best possible health of these workers and the services to those seeking care, as well as the financial pressures on the healthcare budget. Promoting worker well-being in terms of physical and psychological health and social well-being can be achieved through addressing the many work pressures faced by workers in health, which would ultimately lead to successful outcomes reflected in effective work performance and high quality of care for the patient. These include training and support in coping mechanisms for dealing with emotionally draining work, staff becoming resilient and able to deal with feelings of frustration, powerlessness, and hopelessness in relation to the patients, and increasing available resources. Furthermore, the general culture among healthcare managers and professionals needs to be one that positively reinforces and rewards effort, seeks commitment, acts on feedback, and readily shares knowledge and skills with other workers inside and outside of their organization, making it an environment that represents a compassionate approach.