Overview of healthcare professional wellbeing in palliative care
Australian Medical Association (AMA), 2020Harvey, 2021Meier, 2001Riley, 2004
Caring for patients with palliative care needs and their families can be a richly rewarding and professionally satisfying experience. However, it can also be demanding and present significant challenges, particularly at times when emotions are heightened. It requires a compassionate understanding of patients and their families and carer(s), as well as attunement to one’s own reaction to circumstances that can be emotionally intense and complex. Providing palliative care can:
- challenge personal beliefs
- compel healthcare professionals to face their own fears about illness and dying
- challenge the perception of being a healer when confronted by a patient’s inevitable deterioration and death.
Challenges can also arise when healthcare professionals become deeply invested in a patient’s care or when a patient’s preferences and goals of care change. These issues, in addition to witnessing suffering, and other professional or personal matters, can contribute to stress, burnout, compassion fatigue and moral distress.
Effective teamwork and collaborative networks build resilience and are essential components of holistic management; they can provide a support structure to cope with the emotional and psychological demands of the role.
Despite the complexities, providing palliative care can be gratifying both professionally and personally. Job satisfaction and compassion satisfaction1 contribute to the health and wellbeing of healthcare professionals and protect against the adverse effects of periods of stress and overload.