With everything going on in the world in terms of project funding—not just in healthcare, but pretty much any and every environment—I recognize that remaining optimistic can seem to be something of a fool’s errand, but for the folks responsible for ensuring the safest possible environment for...
Near misses—unplanned incidents that have the potential to cause harm but do not—present valuable opportunities to identify systemic vulnerabilities and prevent adverse outcomes in settings like behavioral health.
When the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) set out to find a solution to improve staff well-being, it approached the issue from the organization's side. How can a healthcare organization make its difficult, emotionally invested,...
If one were to ponder the most complicated undertakings in the world of healthcare, I believe that effective management of mental/behavioral health would be very close to the top of that list. I can say from personal experience that some amazing improvements have been made over the last 20-30...
The CDC believes that healthcare worker burnout impacts the quality and safety of patient care, including increased medical errors and hospital-acquired infections among patients. Overburdened staff—due to inadequate or high patient-to-staff ratios, a negative workplace culture, poor...
Assessing compliance with the LSC has always been a tricky proposition, since a deficiency that is obvious to one individual might not be so obvious to another, based on surveyors’ different levels of knowledge.
On March 18, the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety (NIOSH) and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation released the Impact Wellbeing guide as part of a federal campaign to take action on healthcare worker burnout. The guiding principles of the document are building trust...
Should physicians with possible mental health issues be required to participate in specialized physician health programs? What programs are out there? What industry developments can medical staffs follow? What isn’t helping physicians and what is?
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), healthcare workers are increasingly reporting workplace harassment, burnout, and poor mental health. Recently, NIOSH teamed with Total Worker Health Centers and advocates in the industry to create Impact Wellbeing in...
Healthcare workers are no strangers to burnout and suicide as many suffer from emotional exhaustion and mental and physical stress due to the demanding nature of their job, including long working hours, high-stress environments, and death in extreme cases.
