HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsStreamline the revenue cycle management process and protect your bottom line with expert-backed education.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
View All ProductsHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
View All ProductsTackle all the challenges of practitioner directory management within a health plan with a single solution tailored to your specific needs.
View All ProductsOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreWorking as a professional caregiver in a hospice, at whatever level of care, or other palliative care setting can be stressful. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Hospice News offered that “More than 62% of hospice and palliative care clinicians have suffered from burnout... As hospices contend with widespread staff shortages across all disciplines, staff burnout threatens to increase turnover and cause some staff to leave the industry altogether.”
What Contributes to Hospice Caregiver Burnout and Its Results
The same source tells us that some of the contributing factors to burnout for the care setting include “emotional exhaustion, working longer hours, being younger than 50-years-old, and working weekends.” Also, smaller hospice organizations that depend more on their limited staff experience even higher levels of burnout, which can lead to employee “fatigue, depression, social withdrawal, insomnia, increased vulnerability to illness, and increased risk of substance abuse, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, interpersonal conflict and suicide.” The greater risk is that “An employee experiencing burnout is also more likely to make mistakes and less likely to realize that an error has occurred. This can endanger patients and staff and have a negative impact on the quality of care the organization provides.”
COVID-19 Exacerbates the Impact and Likelihood of Caregiver Burnout in Hospices
The COVID-19 pandemic has made some of the problems inherent to the U.S. healthcare system even worse, including in areas that care for those with serious illness and have end-of-life care needs. Another Hospice News article shares how the number of people needing hospice care has soared during the pandemic, but much of the emergency healthcare assistance has gone to hospitals, leaving hospice and palliative care providers in the lurch. Furthermore, “Even prior to the pandemic, staffing concerns topped the list of worries in 2020 among hospice providers who responded to a Hospice News survey conducted earlier this year. Staff burnout has forced many hospices to reevaluate their policies around paid leave/paid time off (PTO) as employees respond to childcare needs with school closures and remote learning, as well as falling ill to the virus themselves or quarantining after possible exposure.” In addition to the earlier burnout threats, new potential contributors to burnout include the risk of infection and greater threats to work/life balance.
How to Counteract Burnout Among Hospice Caregivers
One suggestion from Hospice News for preventing and avoiding burnout in the wake of COVID-19, is “providing resources for self-care facilitation and staffing support for balanced workloads [that] could improve quality of life among interdisciplinary hospice teams and the patients and families they serve.” Other worthwhile strategies to incorporate include “employee appreciation efforts to boost morale and providing increased access to mental health services and PTO.”
Encouraging and Practicing Self-Care Is Vital
According to the American Hospice Foundation, “People drawn to hospice work have an abundance of caring concern for those they serve.” Even under ordinary circumstances, they “are faced with the pressure to sacrifice their own well-being for their patient’s needs. The love and caring that make hospice workers so special can also serve as a major source of stress in their lives.” For long term success as a professional caregiver in a hospice setting, “It is essential to have a lifestyle that incorporates manageable stress-reducing techniques.” Ultimately, an important element of hspice advice for caregivers is that they must learn to practice self-care that supports their careers, from learning to say goodbye to patients, a natural part of every hospice patient relationship, to allowing oneself to grieve. Maintaining attention to basic health needs is a must, as is sustaining and supporting one’s family. Finding ways to relax is another essential component of coping with the pressure of this very important caregiving role.
HealthStream understands the emotional impact of hospice and palliative care on the healthcare workforce and supports the team approach needed by providing education in palliative care and professional boundaries. We help organizations tackle turnover through streamlined onboarding and training initiatives and mitigate risk through seamless navigation of annual regulatory requirements. With HealthStream, hospice staff can focus on what’s really important—the comfort of the patients and families they serve. Learn more about HealthStream solutions tailored to the hospice and palliative workforce.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceBe confident in your staff’s ability to reduce risk by providing compliance training that changes behavior.
View All ProductsDevelop next-level people for next-level care by prioritizing quality and safety improvements.
View All ProductsStandardize policy and procedure management with an automated, customized, and centralized system.
View All ProductsEstablish a culture of belonging with education supporting DEI, wellness, engagement, and leadership development.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementStreamline the revenue cycle management process and protect your bottom line with expert-backed education.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ProductsUnlocking the full potential of clinicians goes beyond aspiration – it’s a commitment we embody. Our competency development solutions help personalize learning for every clinician so you can confidently bridge the gap between theory and practice for your nurse residents while meeting the unique development needs of your seasoned clinician.
View All ProductsEnhance maternal & child nursing care with solutions focused on improving the quality of care for mothers, infants, and children.
View All ProductsAddress staffing challenges, standardize orientation and onboarding, and deliver an effective training program for your team to easily achieve and maintain certification with our critical, emergency, and acute care solutions.
View All ProductsWe understand the critical importance of earning and maintaining your patients' trust in the delivery of exceptional sedation and surgical outcomes. As a premier provider of healthcare education, we are committed to empowering you in promoting safer, more successful outcomes for each and every patient, without exception.
View All ProductsOur solutions are meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations. Within this innovative framework, we have curated specialized subsets of solutions aimed at addressing the ever-evolving challenges faced by individuals dealing with illnesses or chronic conditions.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare workforce management is essential. We provide advanced scheduling solutions for organizations to solve issues such as nurse retention
View All ProductsComprehensive, industry-leading provider onboarding and credentialing software that validate health outcomes and support provider assessment.
View All CredentialingOur affordable CVO credentialing services establish patient safety by enabling primary source verification for your healthcare organization.
View All ProductsIntegrate with Epic to validate and add new providers directly to your provider master file.
View All Products