Founded in 2007, Denmark’s Ida Institute is dedicated to the health of people with hearing loss. Its new four-part course, however, is aimed at another group: the healthcare professionals whose jobs can compromise their own health.
‘Clinician Well-Being: The Science of Self-Care' turns the focus on the caseload challenges, business pressures and environmental influences that take their toll on hearing-care specialists doing an already demanding role. Taught by Dr Dunay Schmulian (pictured), Director of Audiology at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland, Australia, the free online course aims to prevent vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue and burnout.
“Too often I have read that professional fatigue is an occupational hazard and a question of when not if,” says Schmulian. “Fortunately, the current understanding of what it takes to have a thriving career is rapidly expanding as clinicians and organisations prioritise self-care as a daily routine.”
Believing self-care allows for better care of others, Schmulian explains how to identify the tell-tale signs of stress, helping participants develop their own professional-fatigue warning scale, a self-care strategy and a framework for debriefing within a clinical setting.
“Since burnout is both an individual and organisational crisis, wellness is both an organisational and individual responsibility,” says Schmulian, a former Chair of Wellness and Culture at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Queensland, whose research focuses on the lived experience of patients and clinicians engaged in life-changing health conditions.
“While most of our resources focus on the needs of people with hearing loss, we know that burnout, stress and the various forms of professional fatigue are an ongoing concern for both employers and employees,” says Lise Lotte Bundesen, Ida’s Managing Director. “This course looks specifically at the risks and remedies of professional fatigue and gives clinicians the tools to evaluate their own needs and make self-care a part of their daily lives – because we can’t help others if we don’t first look after ourselves.”
The course is available for free in the Ida Learning Hall catalogue under "Level 4: Staffing and Training". Website: https://idainstitute.com/
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