Healthcare Grief Consulting

FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS & TEAMS

“I have little joy in performing the job that I believe I was born to do. Now, not only am I tired of work—I’m tired of life.”
- Emergency Medicine Physician

Healthcare Grief Consulting

Grief education and support are particularly important for healthcare professionals. A direct correlation has been drawn between the emotional well-being of caregivers and the care that patients experience. Real progress in this area will not only enhance the work experience for your employees but also lead to measurable improvements in patient care and satisfaction

Excellent Employee Assistance Services resources have always been needed, but since COVID-19, the need for mental health support has increased significantly. The prolonged, cumulative grief and loss have taken a terrible toll on our doctors and nurses.

According to the Medscape Physician Suicide Report 2022, approximately one in 10 physicians contemplated or attempted suicide in 2021 (Medscape, 2022).*

Nurses are also at risk. Dr. Teena McGuiness speaks to the current risks to nurses on the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses site:

The nursing shortage is amplified by the psychological injury inflicted by the morbidity and mortality of patients with COVID-19. “The Future of Nursing Report 2020-2030” highlights the higher risks of suicide, psychiatric disorders and addiction for nurses. . . at no other time in the history of nursing have we faced such prolonged, cumulative trauma and stress (McGuiness, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2021).**

Dr. Teena McGuiness, in her article 'Suicide: A Dark Cloud Over Nursing,' highlights the increased risks of suicide, psychiatric disorders, and addiction for nurses due to the psychological injury caused by the morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 patients. She writes, “At no other time in the history of nursing have we faced such prolonged, cumulative trauma and stress,” and notes how this exacerbates the nursing shortage (McGuiness, 2021). 

Listen to the words of two nurses who responded to this article:

[In the comment above, the nurse] stated that "nurses need to have a strong voice in suicide prevention, especially among coworkers", but how can we have that voice when we can barely hear our own screaming voices amongst all of the chatter? It is so overwhelming right now. Our facility offers EAP, employee assistance programs, but I am not sure that our nurses know about it, especially the newer nurses. This pandemic is not only killing patients, it is killing our nurses, emotionally, psychologically, mentally, and physically. Nurses are leaving the profession and nursing students are rethinking their career paths. We need support in a bad way.”

Hospital chaplains, primarily trained in emergent care, require additional training in providing long-term care to returning patients and also need support in processing their own heavy burden of grief.

I spent 10 years as an Assistant Professor of Religion, specializing in training healthcare professionals. During that time I developed a comprehensive course on grief and loss. Originally designed for nurses and other Allied health students, it has been adapted for chaplains at the Master’s level as well.

Each of your employees, from your servers to your surgeons, will encounter patients who are experiencing death and loss. They need to know how to give informed, compassionate care to those patients and their families—and to care for their own grief.

Simply put, families who see their loved ones treated with excellence and compassion will come to your hospital or facility again. And employees who are well-equipped to compassionately support grieving patients and well-supported in their own grief will stay.

These seminars will equip your employees with essential tools to:

  • Process their own grief.

  • Understand different kinds of grief.

  • Differentiate between healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms.

  • Compassionately support others who are grieving.

  • Respond with informed compassion considering different religions, cultures, generations, and disabilities.

  • Effectively process their own grief so they can continue to give compassionate care and not burn out.

Get In Touch

Contact me and we will discuss which topics and packages are best for your team.

Complete this form to request more information regarding healthcare grief consulting options & I will be in touch soon.

aliciagriefcoach@gmail.com
770-853-3657

*  Physician suicide report 2022: A bleak reality. MDLinx. 2022 physician suicide report: A bleak reality | MDLinx

** American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. (August 31, 2021). Suicide: A Dark Cloud Over Nursing. AACN Blog. Retrieved from https://www.aacn.org/blog/suicide-a-dark-cloud-over-nursing