January 3, 2014

In the health field, everything is focused on performance. The institutions and the personnel in the network must constantly conform to various standards from the Ministry and the health and social services agencies as well as from Accreditation Canada. With the help of statistics, comparisons are established between the institutions in the network, without however taking into account the realities which sometimes can be very different from one place to another. Companies are hired to evaluate the performance of the healthcare professionals, with the goal of increasing efficiency. New ways of doing things are forced on them, while the work teams are rarely consulted. The rule prescribing that more be done with less relentlessly applies to them just like to the allotted budgets. Therefore, they have the impression, and rightly so, of being compelled to perform their work more and more quickly.

So, healthcare professionals are trained to do quality work with a vulnerable clientele. That requires time. But, ironically, they can hardly reconcile the performance required of them and the helping relationship that they must establish with their patients. Little place is left for compassion in a setting where the obstacles and the organizational constraints prevent acting in this sense, while human distress is felt every day. Even the time required for teaching patients is timed by the minute, without any regard for their specific needs. Obviously, such a context can generate stress for the healthcare professionals, but it can also, in the long term, affect their health.

The four main causes of stress at work are the perception of loss of control, unpredictability, newness and the feeling that one’s ego is threatened. The fact of being aware of this makes it possible to act preventively in a situation of stress, to be vigilant and to let go of certain aspects, if applicable.

At a conference on stress at work, Dr. Serge Marquis, Consultant on mental health at work, explained that when everything accelerates and goes too fast, it is then or never to stop and take a moment to reflect. In this regard, Dr. Marquis talked about a strategy used in Malaysia to attract and capture monkeys. The hunter makes a little opening in a coconut, empties the liquid and puts in a few grains of rice. The monkey, enticed by this fruit suspended on a tree branch, forces its hand into the coconut to get the rice. Not being able to remove its hand from the coconut without giving up the rice, it starts wailing and crying. However, it would be so much simpler to leave the rice in order to get its hand out and, by doing so, elude the hunter.

In short, this anecdote reveals that letting go, or still “letting the rice go”, is an excellent prescription for stress at work and in life in general.

Have a good and happy 2014 in health, and safety, and, above all, see to it that you let go of the rice!

Do you know ?

Over the last few years, the Ministry of Health and Social Services launched a project for implementing the Lean Healthcare Six Sigma Approach in several institutions in the network, based on performance and organizational transformation. Union participation in this project is crucial to see to the best interests of the healthcare professional members.

Lean, meaning thin or no fat, is the word used to qualify a management theory on production marked by the research of performance in terms of productivity, quality, delay and costs. The school of Lean management originated in Japan, more specifically from the Toyota Production System in the automobile industry.

Training in Lean Six Sigma makes it possible for administrators to increase the operating speed of their business, particularly in the hospital setting, and to reduce the activities with no added value or the losses of time and space because of travelling, the duplication of operations, waiting and lack of coordination.

Although the Lean Approach is adaptable to all economic activity sectors, there is certainly no consensus about it. Some scientific studies and communications even question the achievement of the goal and sound the alarm on the potential risks for the deterioration of working conditions.

A pathological source for high stress and musculoskeletal injuries (MSI), the extensive pursuit of performance can seriously compromise the health and safety of workers, according to specialists in work, ergonomists and psychologists. Therefore, vigilance is a must!