March 2, 2015

One would have to be living on another planet not to have heard about the major upheavals about to take place in the health care settings, essentially because of Bill 10. Knowing that any change can be a source of stress, it is useful for the healthcare professional to have at her disposal tools which enable her to be less anxious, but also to « agir » et non uniquement de « subir ». (“act” and not only “endure”)

Dr Sonia Lupien, who has been interested in the phenomenon of stress for several years, summarizes how a situation can turn out to be stressful with the acronym CINÉ :

• C:  sentiment d’avoir un faible Contrôle sur la situation (feeling of having little Control over a situation);
• I: situation Imprévisible (unpredictable situation);
• N: situation Nouvelle (new situation);
• É: situation pouvant être menaçante pour l’Égo, en mettant la personnalité et les compétences à l’épreuve (situation that can threaten the Ego, by testing personality and competencies)

When a person finds herself faced with one or several of these ingredients, for example in a context of a transformation in the organization of work, her body secretes the stress hormone. That is the brain’s natural response for combatting threatening situations. However, if it happens too often, this process can potentially be the cause of health problems. Therefore, it becomes important to act to better manage the stress, because it is obviously impossible to completely eliminate it.

To do this, one must first be informed. Knowing more makes it easier to understand the scope of the changes and to identify the means to overcome the difficulties. Thus, we can ask the employer to set up a stratégie adéquate de diffusion de l’information (an appropriate strategy for diffusing the information). We can also turn to the union assemblies or the team meetings which would be an opportunity to exchange and to support each other, to get rid of the stress by expressing our concerns, our worries and our ideas. These meetings can also become an interesting  tool for taking action in order to act and to have a minimum of control over the situation, and not only endure it.

There must also be a normal period of adjustment to change, a transition period during which performance is not at its best. To help and to act, one’s needs must be identified and expressed as well as asking for support on the technical, professional and personal level. Training is therefore important for reducing the level of stress and facilitating the adjustment to the new ways of doing things. And if the level of stress is still too high after all this, one must not hesitate to seek support from family, friends and colleagues, the union and the employee assistance programme.

What counts is acting, and not only enduring.

Do you know ?

The http://www.humanstress.ca (website) of the Association paritaire pour la santé et la sécurité du travail du secteur des affaires sociales (ASSTSAS) contains a lot of information and tools on managing change.

Beware of rumours! They can be an additional source of stress, in addition to spreading information that is often wrong or distorts the reality.

The means to communicate information are as numerous as they are varied: employee/employer meetings, union assemblies, information bulletins, info letters, posting on the bulletin boards, intranet, emails, visits to the sites, etc. It is a matter of finding those which are the best adapted and that we take the time to consult them.