Emotional labour in medical professions. Review of literature from the period 2010–2017

The ethics of service work in a neoliberal healthcare context: doing embodied and “dirty” emotional labor

“…Although compassion is often the organizationally mandated emotion ("you need to come across as like you can actually feel for them"; O' Donohoe andTurley, 2006, p.1437), neoliberalism constrains the labor; it must be done procedurally, with the correct emotional performance, and under conditions of hyper-surveillance (e.g., letters to patients are monitored and there is opposition to including an apology because staff are fearful of blame; Xanthos, 2008). Although plenty has been written on emotional labor in healthcare, Zaluski and Makara-Studzińska's (2018) literature review encompassing 2010 to 2017 shows that most research has focused on medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants. We know less about non-medical professionals such as customer service workers and administrators, which is surprising given that they are front-line workers who are often the first to encounter patients, making them especially vulnerable to patients' raw emotions.…”

“…Although plenty has been written on emotional labor in healthcare, Zaluski and Makara-Studzi nska's (2018) literature review encompassing 2010 to 2017 shows that most research has focused on medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants. We know less about non-medical professionals such as customer service workers and administrators, which is surprising given that they are front-line workers who are often the first to encounter patients, making them especially vulnerable to patients' raw emotions.…”

“…Firstly, we contribute to research on healthcare as a neoliberal context (see for example, Currie et al, 2009;Vincent-Jones et al, 2009;Holton and Grandy, 2016;Sakellariou and Rotarou, 2017;Ardila-Sierra and Abadia-Barreo, 2020). Secondly, we extend research on emotional labor in healthcare with our focus on service (complaints) workers (see for example, Zaluski and Makara-Studzińska, 2018). Thirdly, we extend work on embodiment at work, embodiment in emotional labor, emotional labor and 'dirty' work, and emotional 'dirty' work.…”

Job dissatisfaction, ‘burnout’ and alienation of labour: undercurrents in England’s NHS

“…Health professionals are less likely than, say, call-handlers, to experience extreme cognitive dissonance through their emotional labour, and may even be able to modulate their emotions so that they can express joy at the birth of a baby, anxiety at a cancer diagnosis or sadness at a death. 42 The important point about emotional labour is that the practitioner has to understand and work with the patient’s emotions, and learn which of their own emotions should be hidden from view and which should be manifested in this therapeutic process. Those who learn how to modulate their emotional responses acquire ‘deep acting’ skills, while the less emotionally flexible develop a ‘surface acting’ approach.…”

What could make a difference to the mental health of UK doctors? A review of the research evidence

“…• 'Emotional labour' refers to the effort required to show emotions (such as sympathy and understanding) that are appropriate to a professional role but not actually experienced, and to suppress emotions that are felt (such as frustration and disgust) that would be inappropriate to show publicly 69 . Like exposure to death and dying, emotional labour is an intrinsic part of a healthcare practitioner's role but can lead to emotional exhaustion and mental health problems 70 . While doctors' emotional regulation skills have been positively linked to the satisfaction of their patients 71 , a recent study of GPs demonstrated how the demands of managing confrontational patients and dealing with…”