Communities of practice: acknowledging vulnerability to improve resilience in healthcare teams

Abstract

The majority of healthcare professionals regularly witness fragility, suffering, pain and death in their professional lives. Such experiences may increase the risk of burnout and compassion fatigue, especially if they are without self-awareness and a healthy work environment. Acquiring a deeper understanding of vulnerability inherent to their professional work will be of crucial importance to face these risks. From a relational ethics perspective, the role of the team is critical in the development of professional values which can help to cope with the inherent vulnerability of healthcare professionals. The focus of this paper is the role of Communities of Practice as a source of resilience, since they can create a reflective space for recognising and sharing their experiences of vulnerability that arises as part of their work. This shared knowledge can be a source of strength while simultaneously increasing the confidence and resilience of the healthcare team.

Well‐being of nurses and working conditions—Are polish nurses different from doctors and midwives in terms of professional quality of life?

“…People spend more and more time at work; it has also become more and more complex and demanding. Research shows that the conditions and nature of work, income, employment stability, autonomy and the possibility of professional development are factors that have a significant impact on job satisfaction (Delgado et al, 2020; Monroe, Morse, & Price, 2020; Ruiz‐Fernández, Pérez‐García, & Ortega‐Galán, 2020) To a large extent, this also applies to medical professions where the profession often becomes a social role that imposes a series of duties and obligations on people. Medical professions are characterized by a similar nature: responsibility for the health and life of the patient, working under time pressure, a large number of duties with a shortage of personnel, shift work, etc.…”

“…The profession of physician, nurse, midwife has a specific nature. Shift work, frequent shortages of personnel, a high level of psychological load resulting both from the nature of the work and often being under time pressure, responsibility for the health and life of the patient, experiencing emotional and physical violence in the workplace, and hospital infections are just some of the factors reducing satisfaction level (Azam, Khan, & Alam, 2017; Delgado et al, 2020; Rees, Wirihana, Eley, Ossieran‐Moisson, & Hegney, 2018). The low level of satisfaction often leads to burnout syndrome, which is often the reason for resignation from the profession (Hasselhorn et al, 2008; Zhang, Zhang, Han, Li, & Wang, 2018).…”

“…Research on the professional quality of life among medical professions indicates that the increase in the level of satisfaction and prevention of occupational burnout are influenced by: temperament, optimism, having hobbies, living with a partner, satisfying interpersonal relationships in the workplace, and working within an interdisciplinary team where people can get support (Delgado et al, 2020; Miller, Unruh, Wharton, Liu, & Zhang, 2018; Tanaka et al, 2020), Reports also emphasize that the female gender is associated with an increased level of job satisfaction and a lower level of compassion fatigue (Miller et al., 2018; Roney & Acri, 2018).…”

Towards collective moral resilience: the potential of communities of practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

“…We understand that ‘the CoPs constitute an intentional and determined space to promote the exchange of experiences that arise in clinical practice’. 45 The intentional development of CoPs by health professionals can arise after having identified a shared clinical problem relevant to their daily working life, 46 or sometimes it is urgent clinical problems, with the patient at the centre of medical care, which generates the start of the CoP. 28 Though, this exchange of experiences that arise in clinical practice are not limited solely to these two aspects.…”

“…The way in which CoPs increase resilience can be understood as a cyclical structure. 45 Following this structure, based on practice in the healthcare field, several ethical questions emerge involving a big emotional burden. Due to this, a CoP is intentionally created, as a space to share experiences, collectively reflect on the cases arising from practice, raise new questions regarding how to face similar situations in the future, expose and talk about vulnerability as a shared experience and guiding an ethical exploration.…”