Burnout in Critical Care
People are at the heart of Critical Care Services.
Critical care practitioners are reported to be at a particularly high risk of burnout due to the unique job demands present in intensive care units. In July 2022, CCSO conducted a Burnout Survey which included additional questions relating to COVID-19 and its impacts on burnout across critical care units. The intent of the survey was to gain a better understanding of burnout levels within Ontario’s critical care units including the influence of COVID-19 on feelings of burnout. The knowledge gained from the survey will provide a foundation for improvement efforts for critical care staff wellness.
The resources provided here are identified through literature searches, jurisdictional reviews and tools made available from quality improvement organizations. The intent is to offer tools and resources to assist individuals, unit managers with burnout as well as resources for hospital leadership to support teams in understanding and addressing factors that can contribute to burnout in the critical care system.
What Can Be Done to Support Teams Feeling Burnout?
The following practices, tools and resources are presented for use by individuals and teams dealing with issues related to burnout.
For each resource, the level of targeted utilization (eg. Critical Care Leaders, Unit Managers, or for Direct Care Providers) is indicated.
The effectiveness of these tools and degree to which any individual resource may be of value will vary between individuals and teams. CCSO does not endorse any one resource or tool over another with regard to effectiveness in addressing issues of burnout. The goal is to share potential resources for consideration by critical care teams. The following list /links to resources is by no means an exhaustive collection and will evolve over time. If you are aware of, or have used, other tools, resources or practices to address issues of burnout please feel free to forward these to CCSO for consideration of including in the list below.
If you are in crisis, talk to someone.
Crisis Services Canada
If you are in crisis there are a number of resources available. Most hospitals have an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) available 24/7. There are also local, provincial, and national resources. Nationally, Crisis Services Canada is available to you whenever you need.
Call the 24/7 crisis line 1-833-456-4566
Develop Healthy Self-Care Habits
Self Care for the Care-Giver
An article that identifies 5 areas of focus to promote caregiver wellness.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Resilience Tools
The Center has a series of more than 15 evidence-based interactive online well-being tools that are intended to support busy healthcare workers. Tools include activities for self-compassion, gratitude, sleep, and work-life balance plus many others.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Responding to Stressful Events
A guide which identifies signs of stress for care providers as well as identifying stress relieving activities.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Self-Care for Nurses
To be able to offer the best care to patients, nurses have to make sure they’re caring for themselves. The included resources have been developed to support self-care for nurses. These resources are focused on three domains: mental well-being, physical well-being and emotional well-being.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Self-Care Toolkit
This is a collection of tools and resources to support awareness about the state of well-being for care providers. Originally created for nurses, the resources may be helpful to anyone. It starts with an inspirational video, a quality of life assessment, handouts, links to practices, apps, and ends with opportunities for continuing education credits.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Issues of Moral Distress
Goals of Care e-Learning Module
CCSO’s e-Learning Module guides care providers on how to have the end of life conversation with patients and families.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Decision Making for Escalation of Treatment
A structured framework is provided for critical care teams to support the process of decision making in end-of-life care.
Level of Intervention
- Critical Care Leaders
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Care at End of Life
This document provides recommendations for effective decision-making and resources. It hopes to encourage open, clear, honest discussions with patients and families enabling improved advance care.
Level of Intervention
- Critical Care Leaders
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Debriefing Tools
Tallk Clinical Debriefing
TALLK is designed to guide structured team self-debriefing after any learning event in clinical environments. It promotes a supportive culture of learning and patient safety.
Level of Intervention
- Critical Care Leaders
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Low Impact Debriefing
This 4-step process offers best practice parameters around informal debriefing. This tool offers staff exposed to traumatic/distressing experiences a structured way to debrief or offload some of the burden they just experienced in a healthy and effective way.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH)
Debriefing clinical simulation experiences is increasingly understood as a crucial step in clarifying and consolidating insights and lessons from simulations. The Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH) is designed to assist in evaluating and developing debriefing skills.
Level of Intervention
- Critical Care Leaders
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Patient and Family Interactions
The Patient Tool Kit: Dealing with Family
The article identifies strategies that healthcare providers can use to show professionalism and address a patient’s or family’s concerns while managing negative behaviors and defusing potentially volatile situations.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
How to Deal with Patients & Families: 4 Step Action Plan
Fear can motivate a lot of difficult behaviour from family members. The author articulates 4 steps to take when dealing with these scared and seemingly difficult individuals.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
- Direct care providers
Building Supportive Teams
Team STEPPS
TeamSTEPPS Canada™ is an evidence-based teamwork system that optimizes patient care by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals. It includes a comprehensive set of ready-to-use materials and a training curriculum to integrate teamwork principles into a variety of settings.
Level of Intervention
- Critical Care Leaders
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Amazing and Awesome Rounds
Amazing and Awesome Rounds by CanadiEM relies on active participation of a care teams to identify behaviours and processes that lead to exceptional results.
Level of Intervention
- Critical Care Leaders
- Unit Managers
- Direct Care Providers
Creating a Nurse Dream Team
Teamwork is fundamental to successful nursing care. The article provides a framework for building a cohesive nursing unit.
Level of Intervention
- Unit Managers
Let us know
Do you have other resources that would make a difference to addressing burnout in critical care? Let us know, so we can share them here too.