Team Well-being and Resilience Practices in Hospice and Palliative Care
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Abstract
High functioning, resilient teams do not happen by chance. Teams, similar to individuals, need to be educated, nurtured and formed over time, by a consistent vision and process. With proper team formation, the compassionate care of patients, families and colleagues can be developed, modeled and reinforced.
Self-compassion is another focus to help caregivers cope with the stresses of the work and mitigate against burnout. The primary intervention which will be discussed is a regularly scheduled reflection process, e.g. 30 minutes weekly or 90 minutes monthly, with a pediatric hospice team, an inpatient palliative care team and an outpatient palliative care team. The reflection process incorporates mindful meditation, journaling, listening exercises, individual and group reflection to encourage and practice self-awareness, self-reflection, greater emotional intelligence and leadership skills. Specific tools employed include the Search Inside Yourself © Program, books by various authors, selected music, videos and personal journals.
Qualitative feedback from team members, patient, family and colleague satisfaction scores has been positive. Buy-in from all team members, initially, was difficult, but over time, all team members have recognized the value of the process and have incorporated the exercises not only in their work, but in their personal lives and other roles/jobs. Other key success factors are organizational support for time for this process and individual champions to develop and lead the reflective process. The workshop will include a demonstration of exercises used in team reflections with learner participation.
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