Personally Meaningful Rituals: A Way to Increase Compassion and Decrease Burnout among Hospice Staff and Volunteers

Abstract

Rituals may be an important way to increase compassion and decrease burnout among hospice staff and volunteers. Organizations may benefit from providing training and support for personalized rituals among team members, especially new staff who may be at greater risk for burnout.

Prevalence of burnout in healthcare professionals providing palliative care and the effect of interventions to reduce symptoms: A systematic literature review

“…Quality of the papers was assessed as ‘fair’ to ‘good’ in 29 papers. 21,28 –55 Thirty studies were rated ‘poor’ to ‘fair’. 56 –85 Ten studies were intervention studies, the quality of seven of these was assessed between ‘poor’ to ‘fair’.…”

“Sacred Pause” in the ICU: Evaluation of a Ritual and Intervention to Lower Distress and Burnout

“…Personally meaningful rituals after patient's death increased compassion and a sense of connectedness, meaning, and support and decreased burnout among hospice staff and volunteers. 45 Taking "pauses" is very common in our life routines when we practice meditation or go on vacation or sabbaticals. "Pause" has a psychologic background and has been defined as "suspension of goal-oriented activity and temporary disengagement from habitual behaviors."…”

“…Personally meaningful rituals after patient’s death increased compassion and a sense of connectedness, meaning, and support and decreased burnout among hospice staff and volunteers. 45…”

Association between burnout and cortisol secretion, perceived stress, and psychopathology in palliative care unit health professionals

“…Health systems should introduce innovative models of palliative care in which a key element is the integration of healthcare professionals. Specific interventions, techniques, and skills that would be useful to palliative care teams could be: (1) recognizing that health professionals require time and support to adjust to their units; (2) increasing the time spent on the emotional aspects of patient care; (3) ensuring adequate preparation and maintenance of holistic care principles in faster-paced work settings; (4) enhancing emotional management through meditation and spiritual practice; (5) supporting meaningful personalized rituals to increase compassion; (6) ensuring that workers are continually made aware of major changes in present-day healthcare systems; (7) providing a structure for facilitated interactions with patients; (8) helping healthcare providers to be able to identify their boundaries of knowledge or skill; (9) recognizing the levels of psychological distress that require further help; (10) teaching them how to be able to find help; (11) equipping workers with basic skills for understanding and managing psychological distress; (12) combining teaching and supervision programs to improve practitioners' levels of confidence in their skills; (13) strategically including leaders to assist these professionals; (14) referring the more complex psychological interventions to mental health practitioners; and (15) including relaxation and cognitive training techniques (Clark et al, 2016; Griffiths et al, 2015; Hill et al, 2016; Holland & Neimeyer, 2005; Michael et al, 2016; Montross-Thomas et al, 2016; Moorey, 2013; Sato et al, 2014; Yoshida & Miyashita, 2015).…”