Developing resilience: the role of nurses, healthcare teams and organisations

Abstract

Discussions about the sustainability of the NHS workforce have placed considerable emphasis on improving the resilience of healthcare professionals. However, when discussed in relation to individuals, the contextual aspects of resilience are often lost. Instead, individuals are burdened with the responsibility of increasing their resilience so that they can better cope with the challenges they experience rather than examining the external and environmental factors that can affect resilience. This article explores the concept of resilience and suggests ways in which resilience can be developed by individuals and in collaboration with others, resulting in resilient healthcare teams and organisations capable of supporting individuals effectively. It aims to assist healthcare professionals to develop their resilience while also improving their understanding of the complex factors that can affect their coping capacity and how community influences the resilience of everyone.Keywords burnout, compassion, mental health, mindfulness, morale, organisational culture, patient experience, patients, personal development, professional issues, public health, staff welfare, wellbeing, workforce of 14 Aims and intended learning outcomesThis article aims to improve nurses' understanding of the concept of resilience. It provides the opportunity for nurses to reflect on their resilience and outlines strategies that they can use to improve their resilience and that of others. After reading this article and completing the time out activities you should be able to:» Describe what is meant by resilience.» Reflect on how resilient you feel and the factors that might be influencing this.» Understand and discuss how resilience is affected by external factors such as the work environment and relationships with colleagues, and how it may affect your professional practice.» Develop skills to increase your resilience and support the resilience of others.

Applying the Ottawa Charter to guide resilience‐building programs for health care organizations

“…In applying the framework, it is essential to understand what are health professionals' characteristics and what are their perspectives in managing common stressors such us perceived work overload, lack of time, questionable quality of care, and competing demands (Barratt, 2018). A useful step is to select one or more of the Ottawa Charter action areas and include them in the context of health professionals' everyday lives.…”

“…Modify patterns of work to build resilience (work schedules, break schedules, backup staff; Barratt, 2018), provide resilience‐focused support services (i.e., psychological support that focuses on healthy behaviors), incorporate some leisure in work schedules (i.e., lunch together).…”

“…Second, the focus can be on creating supportive environments . Recommended approaches include creating opportunities for individuals to feel safe to express their concerns, and to share each other's experiences or strategies in managing difficult situations, improving relationships between managers or administrators and staff members, as well as enabling individual and collective reflections (Barratt, 2018).…”

Building resilience in contemporary nursing practice

“…This knowledge empowers them to act to address the significant threat to nurse shortages and improve the quality of care. In order to limit this exodus, improving the emotional resilience of the nursing workforce is one argument, with individuals being expected to take more personal responsibility by adopting a resilient approach to their professional practice, irrespective of the challenges faced (Barratt, 2018). However, nurses should not be expected to shoulder every burden.…”

Resiliency and Self-Care Behaviors in Health Professional Schools

“…The high level of burnout in a highstress occupation such as oncology nursing, for example, highlights the need for self-care practices that can contribute to effective health promotion among oncology health care providers (Blackburn et al, 2020). More generally, the development of resilience can contribute to providers' well-being, workforce sustainability, and quality of care on individual, team, and organizational levels (Barratt, 2018).…”