Literature Which Focuses on Staff Wellbeing and the Recognition of 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. Neither do we wish to prevent patients from receiving care that is consistent with, or meets the requirements of, their beliefs and values”

Spiritual Care Matters. An introductory resource for all NHS Scotland Staff 2021
“Unless Health and Social Care professionals look after themselves spiritually, they will find it much more difficult to be effectively present and fit for practice, recognising and responding appropriately to the spiritual needs of patients and service users.”

Promoting Spiritual Well-Being Among Nurses. Celano T 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.”

Health and Flourishing: An Interdisciplinary Synthesis. Lee MT and Mayor, Isha. 2023. Human Flourishing. 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. Puchalski CM, et al. 2014. J Palliat Med. 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.”

Systematic review of the relationship between burn-out and spiritual health in doctors. Whitehead IO, et al. 2023. BMJ Open;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.”