DiversityNursing Blog

Even before the pandemic, healthcare providers experienced burnout and other negative mental health issues. Now more than ever, it is critical health systems take steps to support their staff's well-being.

Recently, more healthcare organizations have started to hire Chief Wellness Officers (CWO), as a strategy to address burnout, mental health, and compassion fatigue.

Jonathan Ripp MD, MPH, Chief Wellness Officer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said there were only a handful of Chief Wellness Officer positions when he was appointed to the role in May 2018. “There has been at least a dozen more who have been named in the past year, and several more places that are looking to create the position,” said Dr. Ripp. “I would not be surprised if, 10 years from now, it's commonplace for most large organizations to have a Chief Wellness Officer or equivalent, taking this challenge on, and doing so in a way that is effective.”

The ultimate goal of this role is to aid system-wide changes that enable staff to practice in a culture that prioritizes and promotes mental health and well-being.

The CWO is responsible for measuring well-being across their organization. Then, they create and implement wellness programs that address the current environment causing burnout and stress.

The hiring of a CWO is not a remedy all on its own. The CWO works in collaboration with other leaders and staff to prioritize well-being and would ultimately lower costs and improve patient care.

According to Beckers Hospital Review, burnout and depression result in major costs to health systems due to an increase in medical errors, reduced quality of care, and turnover. Research has found that for every dollar invested in wellness, hospitals can see a $3 to $6 return on investment.

Medical Schools are also following the hiring trend.

Holder said, "Mental and emotional wellness is essential to complete health. We simply cannot ignore this fact. I view my role as another way to serve the students, faculty and physicians in Brown’s medical school, and aid them in not just meeting their immediate self-care needs but also creating and developing plans that can help them learn more about how to take care of themselves in a way that's sustainable for a profession that demands a lot."

“Wellness and self-care is more important than ever before. These next few years will be critical for health care workers as we address the mental and physical burdens from COVID-19,” said George Washington University's Chief Wellness Officer, Lorenzo Norris, MD.

Hopefully this position sticks around, even after the pandemic passes, because burnout and mental health have been issues in the healthcare field all along.

Nursing is one of the most highly respected careers, but also one of the most stressful. This kind of stress can lead to compassion fatigue. 

Compassion fatigue is the emotional residue or strain of exposure to working with those suffering from the consequences of traumatic events.

Compassion fatigue differs from burn-out, but can co-exist. It has a more rapid onset while burnout emerges over time.

According to the Nursejournal, compassion fatigue reportedly affects 16% to 39% of Registered Nurses, with most reports coming from Nurses working in areas like hospice, oncology, and emergency care. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of compassion fatigue is reportedly far greater among Nurses.

Signs of Compassion Fatigue:

• Extreme exhaustion on a regular or daily basis
• Increased anger and irritability
• Diminished sense of self-worth
• Lower levels of job satisfaction
• Reduced ability to feel empathy
• Disruption of world view; irrational fears and extreme anxiety
• Dissociation
• Impaired ability to make well-informed decisions
• Difficulty separating work and personal lives
• Dread going to work
• Increase in work absences and showing up late
• Failure to commit to any overtime when asked multiple times

Compassion fatigue is a treatable and manageable condition. Treating it starts with recognizing and admitting it is a real condition. From here, you can begin the process of healing. 

Education is important for Nurses at risk for or experiencing compassion fatigue. Healthcare organizations should include educational training regarding therapeutic communication, establishing boundaries, conflict resolution, ethical dilemmas, and self-care.

Self-care methods are a great way to combat compassion fatigue. Nurses are constantly concerned with the needs of others and often neglect their own needs.

According to GoodTherapy, those who practice good self-care are significantly less vulnerable to stress and compassion fatigue than those who fail to do so. Generally self-care includes:

• Balanced, nutritious diet
• Regular exercise/meditation
• Routine schedule of restful sleep
• Balance between work and leisure
• Honoring emotional needs
• Journaling/reading 

Set emotional boundaries. Establishing these boundaries between ourselves and our patients is important so we don’t end up carrying their pain and experiences. 

It is a challenge to stay compassionately connected while still remembering that each of us is a different and separate person. This awareness may help to maintain the space that exists between the caregiver and the patient. 

Use a support system. Support can come from family or friends, mental health professionals, or like-minded individuals experiencing the same thing as you. 

“It may not sound fancy or sophisticated, but building community is the most powerful thing you can do,” says Geoffry White, PhD, a private Practitioner in Los Angeles who has worked to prevent compassion fatigue in mental health practitioners responding after terrorism and war. 

Compassion fatigue is a serious problem affecting many Nurses, Healthcare workers, families, and caregivers. You are human, and your work is incredibly demanding. With self-care, boundaries, and support from others, you can manage and ultimately beat compassion fatigue.