Dear all,
Over the last year, and particularly the last 6 months, our SHO sickness
levels have shot up - both of the longer term and short term ("D+V") type.
The traditional explanation for this is low morale.
My initial thoughts were along the lines of - but they do less hours, have
lots of senior support etc etc, why low morale? (The 'In my day' school of
thought - and me so young!)
Then thinking more along the lines followed by my health promotion
researcher wife - what if the issue is related to self-esteem? Loss of
self-esteem and self-efficacy leads to apathy, depression etc. Related to
this is the concept of locus of control: those with an internal locus feel
empowered, those with an external locus are disempowered: they blame
external factors for their situation.
By increasing supervision, together with pressures of getting juniors to
make rapid decisions re: 4 hour wait have we removed their self esteem? Is
all the constant hounding making them feel unvalued and simply cogs in the
machine (I know I feel that way sometimes!).
Any similar experiences / thoughts or is this just a big pile of toss?
Jon
Leeds Gen Infirmary
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