Staff wellbeing and spiritual factors
In recent years all healthcare systems have had to confront the reality that the wellbeing of healthcare staff relates to the quality of care that patients receive. Here is some literature which illustrate policy aspirations and some publications which explore the link between staff wellbeing and spiritual health with the ability to be compassionate and empathic in clinical practice.
Caring for doctors, Caring for patients. General Medical Council. November 2019
The wellbeing of doctors is vital because there is abundant evidence that workplace stress in healthcare organisations affects quality of care for patients as well as doctors’ own health.
Personal beliefs and medical practice. General Medical Council. December 2024
Personal beliefs and values in medical practice
3. We recognise that personal beliefs and cultural practices are central to the lives of medical professionals and patients, and that all medical professionals have personal values that affect their day-to-day practice. We don’t wish to prevent you from practising in line with your beliefs and values, as long as you also follow the guidance in Good Medical Practice.al beliefs and cultural practices are central to the lives of medical professionals and patients, and that all medical professionals have personal values that affect their day-to-day practice. We don’t wish to prevent you from practising in line with your beliefs and values, as long as you also follow the guidance in Good Medical Practice.
Spiritual Care Matters. An Introductory Resource for all NHS Scotland Staff 2009
Unless healthcare professionals look after themselves spiritually, they will find it much more difficult to recognise and respond to the spiritual care of patients.
Promoting Spiritual Well-Being Among Nurses. Celano, Trish et al. Nurse Leader. 2021;Volume 20, Issue 2, 188 – 192. doi: 10.1016/j.mnl.2021.08.002
Key Points: Organizational support of spiritual well-being is imperative to recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce. There are practical strategies to incorporate spiritual care into the culture of nursing and nursing care. There are clear pathways to integrate spiritual wholeness into the nursing profession.
Lee, M.T., Mayor, I. (2023). Health and Flourishing: An Interdisciplinary Synthesis. In: Las Heras, M., Grau Grau, M., Rofcanin, Y. (eds) Human Flourishing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09786-7_4
This chapter offers a relational understanding of health that transcends a focus on physical infirmity and locates the person in social, ecological, and spiritual contexts. For most people, flourishing is also inseparable from spiritual well-being.
Improving the Spiritual Dimension of Whole Person Care: Reaching National and International Consensus. Christina M Puchalski, Robert Vitillo, Sharon K Hull, Nancy Reller, J Palliat Med. 2014 Jun 1;17(6):642–656. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2014.9427
A clinician’s capacity to be compassionate is connected to his or her own inner spirituality or vocation. Compassion is an attitude, a way of approaching the needs of others and of helping others in their suffering. But more importantly, compassion is a spiritual practice, a way of being, a way of service to others, and an act of love. Thus, spirituality is intrinsically linked to compassion. Clinicians, by being aware of their own spirituality—including a sense of transcendence, meaning and purpose, call to service, connectedness to others, and transformation—are more able to be compassionate with their patients.
Whitehead IO, Moffatt S, Warwick S, et al. Systematic review of the relationship between burn-out and spiritual health in doctors. BMJ Open2023;13:e068402. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068402
Conclusion: Published research suggests that burn-out is linked to spiritual health in medical doctors but not to religion.