Why Meaningful Recognition and Gratitude Are Important in Addressing Staffing Shortages

Health care is at a crossroads, and staffing shortages are impacting access to and the provision of care. Never before has our profession seen these types of critical shortages.¹  Amid the ongoing impact of the pandemic, stressful health care environments exacerbating compassion fatigue, and historic and ongoing problems with staffing, nurses are experiencing high levels of burnout.¹  More than half of physicians and nurses have admitted experiencing severe burnout. Burnout is defined by the Greater Good website as “a complex state generally defined by exhaustion, cynicism, a callous attitude toward others, and a diminished ability to be effective in our jobs and relationships.”² 

Not only does burnout impact individual health professionals, it can also impact how they provide care to their patients. You cannot support others when your cup is empty. Staff then become depleted of their compassion for their patients, and compassion fatigue increases. Burnout can...