Health care workers often fail to take care of their own health. Some experience burnout or compassion fatigue periodically especially in the mental health field. Health care workers are at high risk due to their contact with patients who may have various diseases. Thus, not only are hand washing and other protocols important it is imperative that these workers periodically take time off to relax and decompress.

A well thought out and well structured question.

Those healthcare professionals are humans like their patients. They are humans who experience, like every other human, health and illness. This is in spite of burnouts they suffer while caring for others.

Healthcare providers should take care of themselves as they carryout their professional obligations.

I follow dr. Adeleke Ibrahim Taiwo answer.

Health care services are the sum of the public and private services provided by the State to care for the health of its citizens, both in its own sector and within the private sector. It includes all hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and human resources from doctors, nurses, medical engineers, technicians, researchers and all those working in this field. And encourages the supporting industries for medical services such as pharmaceuticals, devices and others. It also includes medical research, education and opportunities for successive generations to support this sector.

Janki Foundation of U K in association of Brahma Kumaris has developed VIHASA program.This is Values in Health care Professionals a Spiritual approach . This may be approached through Brahma Kumaris centre near by you to conduct modules .

In running StaffWEL courses over some years I have found care staff on average mirror the populations of which they are part. It is a paradox that the population seeks to know how to live well in the modern world from staff who do not know any better than them. If the health predicament is that lesser percentage that yields to a technological intervention, this does not matter so much. Expert action then helps. When it comes to the epidemics now sweeping the industrialised world we are at an impasse as the stress, mental health problems, diabesity and more extends its impact. My own finding is that we are misapplying an old 'fix-it' map in new territory it does not match. The new wave of needed public health ('the Fifth Wave') adopts a new compass orientation: partnering with people as we learn to transform the way we live and care for our lives, and tap into the well of capacities for wellness and wellbeing inherent in life. When a staff member is actively working to shift this in themselves, they become a credible partner to help others in this difficult and on-going task. This softens the paternalistic tradition and creates a fresh pathway as a professional career.

Agradezco sus apreciaciones

Altruism is a defining trait among many who enter into the health or caring professions. That by default, means that we put others before ourselves, and in many ways, includes our own personal health and well-being. I personally know of many healthcare workers who work well beyond their allotted hours and sacrifice their own work-life balance - whether this is due to organisational demands (i.e. meeting patient quotas, completing the day's documentation) or because they go out of their way to serve patients' needs, is not immediately clear. Additionally, work-place culture and unspoken expectations often influence the behaviours of healthcare workers.

Whether this translates to health enhancement or risks deserves study. And I also believe that the environment needs to be shaped to help develop a greater mindfulness of personal health and well-being, especially among healthcare workers who serve a crucial role in helping patients recover and rehabilitate from illness and disability.

healthcare profession is a hazardous in many ways.Not only that it predisposes to to various high risk contagious diseases, but also you have to see the daily emotional trauma surrounding sickness, un-treatable patients, end of life scenarios and most importantly the death.

Explaining patient issues is also an art which you usually learn thru experience

regards

Interesting. Following

Health care workers often fail to take care of their own health. Some experience burnout or compassion fatigue periodically especially in the mental health field. Health care workers are at high risk due to their contact with patients who may have various diseases. Thus, not only are hand washing and other protocols important it is imperative that these workers periodically take time off to relax and decompress.

Does anyone have statistics on physician burnout rates?

Pls ensure that your concern encompasses the millions of community health workers who are working for large scale public programmes in developing countries (about 1 million in India alone) who are not even paid a minimum wage and do not have social security even though they themselves belong to the poorest communities and suffer from malnutrition, anemia and a multitude of health problems.

CDCs The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is an excellent portal which provides a detailed account of various health hazards faced by the health workers working in different areas. One specific area is "Health and Safety Practices Survey of Healthcare Workers" which provides better guidance on preventive aspects.

Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/healthcarehsps/default.html

Regards

The age of retirement for UK doctors tells us a lot. I was really glad to have retired from orthopaedic surgery at the age of 58.

See this study in the BMJ. Given that these doctors were predominantly only in their early 60s, the level of retirement was surprisingly high given societal changes in life expectancy and retirement planning. ‘Retiring and returning’, often to a less demanding or less time-committed post, and substantial levels of part-time working among the remainder, meant that there remained only a small minority of these highly experienced doctors working full-time in medicine.

Specialty differences in retirement levels at the time of the survey were seen for both men and women. They were more pronounced for men, with male hospital doctors having low levels of retirement compared with other men or women. This may reflect gender roles and expectation in this older generation, factors which may not apply to the same extent to younger generations when they reach the equivalent stages in their careers. Retirement profiles by age showed similar results and, additionally, in general practice, the hospital medical specialties, surgery, anaesthesia and pathology, the proportion of women who had retired increased more with increasing age than was the case for men. Among those who had retired early, changes in the work environment and in personal circumstances were often contributory factors. GPs who were still working were more inclined to have planned work reductions than their hospital colleagues.

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/6/e022475

I just asked this question last week but pertainomg to trauma and how health care professionals are treated. But medical personnel need to take care of themselves first as it apparently affects the care that they offer their patients.

Personal experience as health care professional do neglect their health. due to many factors... busy schedules. on call, long standing duty hours, stress, burn out. and remaining time they found in bed resting and regaining their energy back to busy work environment . most often we plan lot of strategies for entire rest population and community but their is no strategy for health care professionals is is taken granted..

A critical topic as the shortage of providers continues to rise!

As I read this I am stressing that I am missing my workout out of a deliverable to my dissertation chair and surveyors in my clinics today... sigh...