‘Poppets and parcels’: the links between staff experience of work and acutely ill older peoples’ experience of hospital care

Abstract

The work experiences of staff in a MfOP service impacted directly on patient care experience. Poor ward and patient care climates often lead staff to seek job satisfaction through caring for 'poppets', leaving less favoured - and often more complex patients - to receive less personalised care. Implications for practice. Investment in staff well-being and ward climate is essential for the consistent delivery of high-quality care for older people in acute settings.

An investigation into compassion fatigue and self-compassion in acute medical care hospital nurses: a mixed methods study

“…Indeed, nearly a third of nurse participants had high levels of Isolation, indicating low SC. Effective ward management and leadership is crucial in helping support caregivers find coping mechanisms to manage the demands of their job [127]. Indeed, levels of manager support have been found to predict, significantly and negatively, the level of CF in Emergency Department Nurses [86].…”

“…Throughout the discussion of the study results, evidence has emerged that it is essential for health care organisations, such as the NHS, to provide a healthy, supportive and compassionate working environment for their acute medical care hospital nurses, in which the nurses' emotional well-being is fully supported [127].…”

Organisational support for nurses in acute care settings: a rapid evidence review

“…On detailed review of the papers a further 11 were excluded on the basis of relevance (e.g. conference abstracts only [1], not focussed on nursing [7], and repeats [3]). This resulted in a total of 25 papers being subjected to full review.…”

“…However, the evidence suggests that supporting staff is vital if they are to be able to continue to care for their patients. [21,22,[94][95][96][97] In short staff need to be emotionally supported, [6,7] a pressing policy issue that needs to be addressed. Approaches such as the Schwartz Center Rounds [98,99] and projects focussed on the creation of compassionate care environments [22,76] are examples of organisational approaches being introduced to provide such support.…”

“…[4][5][6] However it has been recognised that if staff are to manage the emotional demands of their work, avoid burnout, and continue to provide care for patients they need to be supported in their workplace. [7][8][9] In order to provide intimate, personal attention to patients, while recognizing their own personal limitations, nurses need to engage in coping mechanisms to balance these demands and protect themselves from burnout. [10] It is important for caregivers to find regular ways to "recover" during the course of a working day, [11] and a supportive team, [12,13] with an effective ward leader [6] have been found to be crucial in this respect.…”