To retain healthcare workers despite the job stresses, healthcare institutions need to support its staff and ensure their well-being.
This includes ensuring that they are being listened to and cared for, and that they have enough time in their line of work to rest and restore their energy levels.
“To provide a good workspace, it is about working together… and being aware that it’s not about KPIs (key performance indexes), that it is not about the quantity of care. It’s about the quality of care,” he said.
If left unaddressed, staff may choose to leave the sector to search for opportunities elsewhere.
“The consequences are that people are leaving the job,” said Ms Groot-Alberts.
“And the other consequences are when people still stay in the job, they don’t have any more energy and any more drive to have those difficult conversations, to go into those difficult (and) uncomfortable places, to attend to the grieving,” she said.
She added that it is not because they choose not to care, but that they simply do not have enough energy to process and attend to the “big emotional feelings”.
