Caring to care: Nurturing ICU healthcare professionals' wellbeing for enhanced patient safety

Emilio Rodriguez-Ruiz; Martina Maria Cornelia van Mol; Joseph Maria Latour; Kristina Fuest

doi:10.1016/j.medine.2024.03.008

Caring to care: Nurturing ICU healthcare professionals' wellbeing for enhanced patient safety

Med Intensiva (Engl Ed). 2024 Apr 8:S2173-5727(24)00061-4. doi: 10.1016/j.medine.2024.03.008. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Emilio Rodriguez-Ruiz¹, Martina Maria Cornelia van Mol², Joseph Maria Latour³, Kristina Fuest⁴

Affiliations

¹ Intensive Care Medicine Department, University Clinic Hospital of Santiago de Compostela (CHUS), Galician Public Health System (SERGAS), Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Simulation, Life Support & Intensive Care Research Unit of Santiago de Compostela (SICRUS), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Santiago de Compostela, Spain; CLINURSID Research Group, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Electronic address: r.ruizemilio@gmail.com.
² Department of Intensive Care Adults, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
³ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK; Curtin School of Nursing, Curtin University, Perth, Australia; Department of Nursing, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675 Munich, Germany.

PMID: 38594110
DOI: 10.1016/j.medine.2024.03.008

Abstract

Healthcare professionals working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) care for patients suffering from a critical illness and their relatives. Working within a team of people with different personalities, competencies, and specialties, with constraints and demands might contribute to a working environment that is prone to conflicts and disagreements. This highlights that the ICU is a stressful place that can threaten healthcare professionals' wellbeing. This article aims to address the concept of wellbeing by describing how the stressful ICU work-environment threatens the wellbeing of health professionals and discussing how this situation jeopardizes patient safety. To promote wellbeing, it is imperative to explore actionable interventions such as improve communication skills, educational sessions on stress management, or mindfulness. Promoting ICU healthcare professionals' wellbeing through evidence-based strategies will not only increase their personal resilience but might contribute to a safer and more efficient patient care.

Keywords: Bienestar; Critical care; Cuidados intensivos; Health care professionals; Intensive Care Units; Patient safety; Profesionales sanitarios; Seguridad del paciente; Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos; Wellbeing.