Compassion Fatigue Syndrome –AFFECTS WITHIN THE WORKPLACE
carerscoffeepot
Mar 27, 2014
5 min read
Before I continue with this post there are a few things I want to highlight.
Firstly, some of the items covered may make you feel uncomfortable, particularly if it sounds too familiar and you have chosen to push it to one side or just accept it as it is.
Sadly this can happen all to frequently, however it is important to take a deep breath and accept that something can be done….someone can speak up….someone goes by the name of ‘courage’.
Secondly, there will be times when I may give an example from experience to put across a point. I will remain respectful and I just want to make it clear that the purpose of this is to encourage.
Times change, views change and attitudes change….lets make it a good change.
Here we go then… You may have already looked at the list of how compassion fatigue can have an affect within the workplace. Here is a reminder:-
• High absenteeism
• Constant changes in co-workers relationships
• Inability for teams to work well together
• Desire among staff members to break company rules
• Outbreaks of aggressive behaviours among staff
• Inability of staff to complete assignments and tasks
• Inability of staff to respect and meet deadlines
• Lack of flexibility among staff members
• Negativism towards management
• Strong reluctance toward change
• Inability of staff to believe improvement is possible
• Lack of a vision for the future
Quite a list isn’t it? You may have automatically done a quick ‘check’ as you read through it, to see if you have noticed any within your own place of work or among your own colleagues.
Let’s have a look individually
High Absenteeism –
This can have a profound affect. It can reduce the availability of the team and put on extra duties to those who have to cover. It would mean extra visits on an already full programme, immediate action is needed by the programmers having to make all those calls to get visits covered and rearranging the schedule of many ‘very quickly’.
Of course it can’t be helped if you are sick, and we are all entitled to any booked leave and the reality is ‘you never know’ what will happen from one day to the next.
With the best will in the world, there will always be change.As a carer out in the community, you do have to be prepared for that change…visits still need to be covered ‘everyday’. People are ‘in need’ everyday. I’m sure you will agree that this is why you continue and will keep going to make sure everyone is helped.
Constant changes in co-workers relationships
You may find you get along with all your co workers…some more than others and indeed great friendships can be made. You all have a caring nature which is why you do the job you do.
What happens if you find yourself in a visit which requires 2 carers and you are not happy with the way your colleague is carrying out any manual handling procedure or indeed their whole approach. Would you say anything to them at a an appropriate time or would you feel the need to discuss it with your supervisor?
What would you do? Think about it.
The safety of the person you are helping is at risk, so are you and the other carer too. You have to look at the whole picture don’t you.
So, do you think it would change your relationship with your co-worker?
Inability for teams to work well together
The care team, occi health, social worker, GP, care manager etc the list goes on but as soon as there is a breakdown in communication or you don’t agree with the outcome of something a wedge may well be driven between the teams.
Desire among staff members to break company rules
Whether it is not using the correct safety equipment or regularly changing gloves, washing hands, keeping the same apron on to prep food after carrying out personal care (yes, I have seen it happen), all to make sure everything is done within the time allocated for the visit so you can be on time for the next. God forbid if you have a double up to get too and you are late!
Outbreaks of aggressive behaviours among staff / Inability of staff to complete assignments and tasks/ Inability of staff to respect and meet deadlines/ Lack of flexibility among staff members
I have put all of these together because I feel they are the outcome of the same thing, which is stress put on the staff to get all allocated visits done, which may have times reduced in order to fit in the next one or are added onto the end of a morning shift because you have half hour spare before your normal lunch run . ( eg. You have been out since 7am and won’t get home until about 2pm – without a break- and be out again at 4pm until 630pm and out again at 730pm until 1030pm….then you can get home have a cuppa grab a few hours sleep to be up at 6am to start all over again.)
Understandably, there will come a point when you are going to be shattered.
Negativism towards management
What springs to mind here is when you don’t get the support you strongly need and ask for. To feel that you aren’t being heard or made to feel your concerns are of no importance does nothing to instill faith to go to management when you really need to.
Strong reluctance toward change/Inability of staff to believe improvement is possible / Lack of a vision for the future
Once again I feel these need to be together. Changes within care do happen and happen very often. This can cause a lot of unsettled people and not just the carer but those they also tend to.
It is very easy to become stuck in your ways but there are times when you need to be open to a new way (doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a good one, but at least hear them out!)
I can remember when re-ablement made an appearance. I welcomed the idea but it did mean a change in the approach to your work practice (or an addition to your care skills!) Many still approached it in trying to do everything for the person they were assisting when what was needed was encouragement for the person to do as much as they could on their own and then assist when something was difficult for them.
A big change, and personally I feel re-ablement for those who it is required for, is a good thing. You do need to make sure you record in detail who did what and how in order for it to be effective and give a true indication of what is being achieved and areas which need more assistance.
What have you picked up on reading through this? For me it just screams STRESS to reach deadlines on limited time, to be happy within visit and to be snarling in the car between visits.Tiredness, feeling put on, not being heard, all of these.
The quality of good effective care needs to be maintained. Remember, among many other things, you are providing a high quality of care to a PERSON not a statistic and in order to do that we have to begin a little self care to be the best we can.
Do not be discouraged, there is a way through this and self care will be looked at in the next post.
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