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Dr. Robyn Stone, executive director of the LeadingAge Center for Applied Research, has been appointed chair of the Gerontological Society of America’s (GSA) Mentoring Committee.

The Mentoring Committee is charged with overseeing the work of GSA’s new Mentor Match program, which provides a communication platform to help GSA members with shared interests develop meaningful mentoring relationships.

As chair, Dr. Stone will be responsible for guiding the work of her committee as it reviews all of GSA’s current mentoring activities and proposes methods to streamline and invigorate these activities.

The committee is also charged with developing measures to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mentor Match program during its inaugural year, and documenting areas for improvement and enhancements.

Dr. Stone convened a meeting of the Mentoring Committee at the 68th annual meeting of the Gerontological Society, which took place Nov. 18-22 in Orlando, FL. The committee outlined strategies for 2016, including convening society-wide mentoring events and developing an interactive symposium to discuss best practices for optimal mentoring relationships in gerontology.

“I have long been an advocate for strengthening the bonds among gerontological researchers,” says Dr. Stone. “Mentoring is the best way I know to instill a passion for research among newcomers to our field, to strengthen the quality of the research we do, and to ensure that our next generation of researchers is well equipped to tackle the challenges facing our aging population.”

About GSA


With 5,500 members, GSA is nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. GSA has been working since 1945 to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. Through networking and mentorship opportunities, it provides a professional “home” for career gerontologists and students at all levels.

About a month after Grace McDonald became nurse manager of the memory care neighborhood at Bethesda Meadow in Ellisville, MO, she “hired” her first assistant: Rosie, a black Labrador Retriever.

McDonald, winner of LeadingAge’s 10th Annual Joan Anne McHugh Nurse Leadership Award, conducted extensive research before taking the leap into dog ownership. She talked with nurse managers at other memory care neighborhoods that had adopted dogs. She reviewed studies about the benefits of having animals in care settings. And she searched the Internet for a reliable source of well-trained rescue dogs.

Only then did McDonald settle on Rosie, a graduate of Puppies for Parole. The program relies on incarcerated individuals to teach basic obedience and socialization skills to rescue dogs.

“She is a handful but she does help out a lot,” says McDonald about the canine that now sleeps in a cozy corner of the neighborhood’s nurse’s station. “It’s warming to see how the residents respond to her. We have a resident who doesn’t speak in complete sentences unless she’s talking to the dog. Another resident was very depressed until we gave her the job of walking Rosie.”

Meaningful Activities to Reduce Drug Use

Rosie is part of McDonald’s evidenced-based plan to give the memory care neighborhood’s 26 residents the opportunity to participate in meaningful activities each day. Those activities have helped the neighborhood cut psychotropic drug use in half, says McDonald, and have increased the number of “good days” that residents in the neighborhood are able to enjoy.

“It really comes down to finding things that residents enjoy doing and then doing those things,” she says. “And then whenever you do find things that work, not keeping it to yourself so we all know what a resident loves to do.”

McDonald asks her staff to share that information each day during morning huddles, and to document it in electronic care plans that every nurse and certified nursing assistant can access at the neighborhood’s computer kiosk.

The care plans, which have received high praise from Joint Commission surveyors, paint a surprisingly personal picture of each resident. That’s because they are filled with meticulous details about each person’s preferences, habits, and unique characteristics.

“For a lot of our residents, (the care plan) is the only voice they have to tell us who they are,” says McDonald.

Let’s say, for instance, that a resident likes drinking chocolate milk with breakfast every morning. Then, the resident announces one day that she hates chocolate milk and wants orange juice instead. When that preference becomes a pattern, it goes into the care plan, says McDonald.

“That may seem like such a small thing to some folks,” McDonald admits. “But those little things can make or break your day if you are living with dementia.”

Focusing on the Reasons for Bad Days

McDonald and her staff have also helped reduce residents’ psychotropic drug use by focusing on the reasons why a resident may not be having a good day.

“We’re really focused on finding out what we are missing,” she says. “Are they bored? Are they hungry? Are they cold? What’s going on here? I tell the nurses, ‘Don’t chart that a resident had an inappropriate behavior. Tell me what they were doing.’ It’s not inappropriate. It’s not a behavior. It’s just a normal reaction to what is going on for them.”

It’s not easy to identify exactly what is making a resident unhappy or agitated, says McDonald. That’s why she encourages her staff to slow down, sit down, and listen to what residents are trying to tell them.

“It is really a time investment,” says McDonald, who is known for taking the time to curl a resident’s hair and apply makeup to make that resident feel special. “Taking those extra steps to give them a good day really gives you a good day too.”

Young Nurse with a Well-Established Philosophy

At 24, McDonald is the youngest nurse manager at Bethesda Meadow. Her youth is far from a disadvantage, however. Instead, it seems to have contributed greatly to her well-grounded philosophy of care.

“I want to be the type of person that deserves the privilege of caring for these residents,” says McDonald.

“Families come here looking for somebody to care for their most treasured loved one: their wife or husband or sister or parent,” she continues. “For someone to come in and look at me—the 24-year-old nurse—and say ‘I trust you to care for my loved one,’ that’s a huge deal. It makes me want to care for every resident like they would have been cared for by their own family.”

Merging Academic and Management Skills

McDonald plans to put her $1,000 McHugh prize toward the tuition she’s paying to pursue a master’s degree in nursing. The investment in her education is already paying off, by teaching her how to develop evidence-based plans to address work-related challenges, and how to bring academic rigor into the care setting.

For example, McDonald has gotten into the habit of presenting her supervisors with written proposals describing strategies to address care-related challenges. Just like her papers for school, the proposals include citations for all the research she’s consulted while developing those strategies.

“I say, ‘I looked at these studies, this is what works, and this is what I need to make it work here,’” she says. “It gives me a leg to stand on when I’m asking my supervisor to spend money.”

As for the future, McDonald has her sights set on climbing the career ladder at Bethesda Meadow.

“I would like to keep moving up in leadership roles,” she says. “I’d also like to explore new ways to advocate for residents with dementia. I think I am on my way, but I still have a lot to learn.”

On Nov. 2, 2015, the LeadingAge Center for Applied Research awarded the Joan Anne McHugh Award for Leadership in Long-Term Services and Supports Nursing to its 10th recipient. The award is presented at each year’s LeadingAge Annual Meeting to recognize aspiring nurse leaders who provide excellent clinical care to their residents while demonstrating a commitment to the field of long-term services and supports.

The McHugh Award was established in 2005 in memory of Joan Anne McHugh by her family and her colleagues at the Loeb & Troper consulting firm in New York. During her career as a registered nurse, nurse manager, and nursing consultant, Joan earned a well-deserved reputation for compassion, knowledge, and professionalism, and made a lasting impact on the geriatric health care profession. She died in 2003 at the age of 47.

LeadingAge spoke recently with Joan’s sister, Margaret Kyriacou, about Joan, her career, and her legacy.

Joan’s Career

LeadingAge: We know that your mother and your 4 aunts were nurses for many years. Did their example influence Joan’s decision to enter nursing school?

Margaret: It was the most natural thing in the world that Joan decided to follow in the footsteps of our mother and her sisters by enrolling in nursing school. My mother brought all of the core qualities that all nurses share – empathy, dependability, stability, flexibility, selflessness, patience, and strength – into our home.

Joan, as the eldest sibling of our large family, learned all those same qualities from our mother. She was very much like a second mother to her 4 siblings, particularly those of us (like me) who were much younger than she was.

LeadingAge: Joan graduated from the nursing school at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York in 1979. Where did her career take her from there?

Margaret: Joan worked at St. Vincent’s and other hospitals and medical facilities for many years, but eventually became more interested in the administrative and consulting side of nursing. That is what led her to enroll at The New School, where she earned her master’s degree in Health Services Administration while still working long hours as a nurse. She started working at Loeb & Troper in 1993 and became a principal in 1998.

Working at Loeb & Troper was a very different job for Joan, as compared to when she was a nurse. But it was just as rewarding in its own way, and it allowed her to help improve the care that patients were receiving at many different hospitals and other long-term care settings across a broad geographic area.

Joan as a Person

LeadingAge: LeadingAge members have heard Joan’s name for 10 years now, but not everyone knew her personally. What was she like?

Margaret: Joan was an extremely intelligent, energetic, and charismatic person, with an incredible work ethic. She also had a wonderful sense of humor, and she was easily the most nurturing and selfless person I have ever known.

After Joan’s passing, we all heard so many stories about the compassion, caring, and thoughtfulness that she displayed toward everyone in her life on a daily basis. Countless people told us, for instance, how Joan had helped them or their loved ones find much-needed medical assistance, how Joan gave them physician and specialist referrals, how Joan did research for them on various medical topics, and how Joan helped them through personal crises, both medical and otherwise.

She was a trusted advisor to so many, someone who always seemed to know just what to do in every situation. It just came naturally to her. It was just her way.

Joan’s Legacy

LeadingAge: What makes Joan a role model for other nurses?

Margaret: Joan’s empathy was one of her defining characteristics. She had the ability to see someone in dire straits and to feel their pain and understand their concerns, and then to work with them to try to ameliorate that pain and address those concerns.

She had extensive experience in a wide variety of clinical settings and consistently provided support and encouragement to her staff and to her patients.

She was always available, and she was always focused on the geriatric population being treated with respect and dignity. She felt the need to be their advocate, and, for many years, she was the best advocate they could have asked for.

Joan was also a great example of how the field of nursing isn’t necessarily limited to the traditional idea of men and women in hospital scrubs working directly with patients. It is actually an incredibly broad field that allows nurses to make a meaningful impact on the care that patients receive in myriad diverse ways – from the hospital room to the boardroom. 

LeadingAge: What do you think Joan’s legacy is?

Margaret: I think Joan’s life story shows that there is no limit to what one can achieve in the field of nursing, and that there are many different avenues that a nurse can take to achieve the end-goal of providing the best level of care to our aging population.

But in order to provide consistent, high-quality care, nurses and other frontline caregivers need to be provided with resources, support, and education so they can be successful in caring for the geriatric population and in facing the many challenges, great and small, that come with such a vitally important mission.

That is the message that the McHugh Award carries with it, and our family would be hard-pressed to think of a more appropriate and meaningful way to celebrate Joan’s life, and ensure that the work to which she dedicated her life continues on.

The McHugh Family

LeadingAge: What has the McHugh Award meant to your family?

Margaret: Our entire family takes great comfort in knowing that Joan’s legacy – both personally and professionally – lives on. We come every year to see the award given out to its recipient. It is a beautiful annual reminder to us that, for all that Joan meant to us, she also meant so much to so many others in so many different capacities.

It is also wonderful to shine a light on the amazing, incredible nurses that have received this award, all of whom truly represent – just as Joan did – all the best qualities and ideals of the nursing field and the field of long-term care nursing. If there is one profession in this world that does not receive enough admiration, it’s nursing, and long-term care nurses have one of the toughest jobs there is.

Every year, when we meet these nurses, we are reminded of Joan, who we all miss so terribly much. We see in them the same things that made Joan the unbelievably special person, nurse, and long-term care leader that she was. We have seen and felt a little bit of Joan in all of the recipients of this award, which is, for us, a very beautiful and meaningful thing.

 

Section
701 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 signed into law by President Obama on
Nov. 2 calls for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to
increase civil penalties up to 150% in 2016.

The increase is the first to occur since 1999. Increases will be calculated based on changes
to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) between 1990 and 2015 and will be capped at
150%, though analysts do not expect most penalties to reach the cap.

Rulemaking is expected to effectuate the
increases.

Paycheck to Paycheck is comprised of an online, interactive database and accompanying report prepared by the Center for Housing Policy, the research  division of the National Housing Conference, that compares wages for selected occupations with the income needed to buy or rent a home.

The purpose of the database is to examine how full-time workers fare in housing markets around the country. Some of these occupations profiled in the community at large mirror positions held by LeadingAge member employees in senior settings, and LeadingAge continues to promote employer attention to workforce concerns.

Click the links below to view the 2015 report, see the methodology and frequently asked questions or to proceed directly to the database.  

 

Human capital will “make or break” the field of aged care, Dr. Robyn Stone told 800 delegates to this year’s joint international conference of the International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing (IAHSA) and Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA). 

The conference took place Aug. 31-Sept. 4 in Perth, Australia.

“In the end it’s really about the people,” said Stone during the conference’s keynote address.

Stone, who is executive director of the LeadingAge Center for Applied Research, called for more global action to attract and retain aged care workers, increase their productivity through technology, and provide better support for informal caregivers.

“We are a very labor-intensive sector and our workforce -- our human capital -- is what will make or break us, and make or break many countries over the next 25 to 30 years,” said Stone.

Workforce Challenges

Stone outlined several challenges facing the aged care field as the global aging population grows dramatically.

“There is no demographic change in the history of the world that is more significant than aging,” she told conference participants.

The shrinking number of informal caregivers will place increasing pressure on the aged care workforce over the coming decades, predicted Stone. Those workforce challenges will be exacerbated by the fact that most communities simply don’t value the aged care sector, she said.

“Aged care work is undervalued work throughout the entire developed world, which means that it is undervalued by society, by providers, and by consumers,” said Stone. “People want cheap labor but they want quality at same time. They are not willing to pay for the kinds of care we expect to have.”

Strategies for Success

Stone offered several strategies that could help mitigate the challenges associated with ensuring that a high-quality workforce will be ready and able to provide services and supports to the growing older population. 

Those strategies, reported by Australian Ageing Agenda, include:

  • Expanding recruitment: Innovative countries are working to increase the number of aged care workers by recruiting nontraditional workers like men, young people, indigenous workers, the unemployed, and retirees, Stone said. 
  • Improving working conditions: Care settings must become more worker-friendly or they won’t appeal to prospective workers, especially young people, said Stone. A worker-friendly organization will provide employees with better access to flexible benefits, professional development, and peer mentoring. It will also address the underemployment of home care workers, she said.
  • Allowing nurse delegation: Stone advocated for policies that allow nurses to delegate certain tasks to unlicensed staff. “This is going to rub up against every single guild in every single country because no doctor, no nurse, no social worker wants to give up their turf,” said Stone. “But the truth is, we can be a lot more productive and efficient if we look at delegation.”
  • Establishing worker competencies: Stone called for serious efforts to develop international standards that would establish a set of competencies for staff in aged care settings.
  • Addressing migration: Stone urged international bodies like the World Health Organization to include aged care workers in initiatives focusing on the migration of health workers. The sharing of best practices and the availability of cross-country training programs should also be a priority as aging and labor force movement becomes a global issue, she said.

Return on Investment

Employers and policy makers often overlook the benefits, including significant cost savings, which an investment in the aged care labor force could yield, said Stone.

Investing in the workforce, and achieving a return on that investment, requires “paying as much attention globally to human capital investment as we do to how we finance our systems and how we think about system delivery reform,” she said.

16 Maryland high school students are studying to become certified nursing assistants (CNA) through a tuition-free program sponsored by Ingleside at King Farm, a LeadingAge member and continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Rockville, MD.

The high school students have been selected to participate in the 15-week CNA training program, which is administered by a local community college, and funded by a foundation established by Dr. William Leahy, an Ingleside board member and physician.

“Developing the skills to become a certified nursing assistant is a great way for young people to break into the health care field,” said Leahy, who started the High School Health Education Foundation more than a decade ago.

Students in the CNA training program receive classroom instruction from a faculty member in the Workforce Development and Continuing Education division at Montgomery College in Rockville. 

The 2-hour classes take place after school on 3 afternoons a week, according to Montgomery Community Media.

On weekends, students receive clinical training under the supervision of their instructor and the nursing staff in Ingleside at King Farm’s Comprehensive Care Center.

Once they complete the CNA training course, students will be eligible to apply for Nursing Assistant State Certification or take the Geriatric Nursing Assistant exam.

“Ingleside at King Farm is proud to partner with Dr. Leahy, Montgomery College, and Gaithersburg High School to offer this program and provide students with the clinical experience they will need, in a real-life, community-based setting,” said Marilyn Leist, executive director at Ingleside at King Farm.

According to CliftonLarsonAllen, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that employers, insurers, and health care exchanges report certain information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in early 2016. 

Health coverage providers, including certain employers, will file information returns with the IRS and furnish statements to individuals in 2016 to report group health coverage information for calendar year 2015. Reporting is optional for calendar year 2014.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires reporting to determine whether employees have been offered affordable, minimum essential coverage, and whether the employer is subject to shared responsibility payments under the Internal Revenue Code.

Who is required to report? 

Employers who are considered an applicable large employer (ALE) are subject to reporting requirements. Additionally, any person or organization that provides minimum essential coverage to an individual must report to the IRS and furnish statements to individuals. 

This includes:

  • Health insurance issuers
  • Plan sponsors of self-insured group health plan coverage
  • The executive department or agency of a governmental unit that provides coverage under a government-sponsored program

Plan sponsors in a group of companies with common ownership or an affiliated group of companies (a controlled group) that are not an ALE, and providers (such as issuers) that are not reporting as employers, may report as separate entities, or have one entity report for the controlled group.

What qualifies as an ALE?

An ALE is an employer that employed an average of at least 50 full-time employees and full-time equivalents (FTEs) during the preceding calendar year. All ALEs must file the report, regardless of whether the employer is a tax-exempt or government entity (including federal, state, local, and tribal governments).

A full-time employee generally includes anyone who was employed on average at least 30 hours of service per week or 130 hours per month. 

Full-time equivalents are determined by adding up all of the part-time hours in a month (up to 120 hours/employee) and dividing by 120. For example, if six employees work 20 hours/week, the employer would have four FTEs. 

What is an ALE required to report?

The ALE is required to report its contact information, a certification that it offered its full-time employees (and their dependents) the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential coverage under an eligible employer-sponsored plan, and the number of its full-time employees for each calendar month during the calendar year.

For each full-time employee, the ALE must report the months during the calendar year for which minimum essential coverage under the plan was available and the employee’s share of the lowest cost monthly premium for self-only coverage (before any wellness discount).

When are the reports required to be filed?

Statements to the responsible individual or full-time employees must be provided on or before January 31 of the following year (January 31, 2016 is the first deadline for the 2015 calendar year). Reports must also be filed with the IRS. 

The normal deadline to file with the IRS is on or before February 28 (March 31 if filed electronically) of the year following the calendar year in which the benefits were offered. However, returns required for the 2015 calendar year must be filed no later than February 29, 2016, or March 31, 2016, if filed electronically.

This article was written by Rick Krueger, and is used here with permission.

 

 

 

Grace McDonald, R.N., is the winner of the 10th Annual McHugh Award for Leadership in Long-Term Services and Supports Nursing. 

McDonald is the nurse manager of the Memory Care neighborhood at Bethesda Meadow, a LeadingAge member in Ellisville, MO. In this role, she assists 26 residents living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia and their families, while managing a staff of 20. 

The Joan Anne McHugh Nurse Leadership Award recognizes aspiring leaders who provide excellent clinical care to their residents while demonstrating leadership in long-term care nursing and a commitment to the profession.

McDonald will receive her award during the LeadingAge Annual Meeting and EXPO, which takes place Nov. 1-4, 2015 in Boston. 

Taking Extra Steps to Deliver Person-Centered Care  

Described as “truly exceptional” by Administrator Candice E. Brown, McDonald spends three-quarters of her time providing direct care to residents. 

She also has 24-hour responsibility for the Memory Care neighborhood at Bethesda Meadow, a job that involves assessing residents and resident care plans, and supervising, supporting and developing measurable goals for staff. 

“Grace goes above and beyond to meet these expectations” by exceeding her managerial responsibilities and taking extra steps to enhance the quality of life for residents, says Brown. Some of those extra steps, cited by supervisors and colleagues who nominated McDonald for the McHugh Award, include: 

  • Working with Bethesda Meadow’s administration to make the Memory Care neighborhood a comforting, home-like setting. 
  • Providing staff with tactile materials and other activities that they can use to engage residents. 
  • Adopting a dog that has helped increase quality of life for residents. 
  • Taking the time to curl a resident’s hair or apply make-up. 
  • Helping a resident write a love letter to his wife on their anniversary.  

“Many of the residents know Grace by name/face and their eyes will light up with joy when Grace talks to them, holds their hands and gives them that special attention,” wrote a colleague. 

Excelling as a Nurse Manager  

McDonald received kudos from Director of Nursing Sarah Arnold for fostering the delivery of person-centered care for residents of the Memory Care neighborhood. In addition, a Joint Commission surveyor visiting Bethesda Meadow in 2015 recognized McDonald for her excellent care plans and interventions. 

“Her residents’ care plans are individualized and extremely informative...and provide (staff) with the information they need to create a positive living environment,” writes Arnold. “She is an advocate for her staff, and consistently looks for ways to improve the care we provide, and the environments our staff work in. She is able to think outside the box and develop interesting and innovative ways for all to have an enjoyable experience on a daily basis.” 

McDonald has been instrumental in using non-drug interventions to reduce the neighborhood’s use of psychotropic medications by more than 50%. She is now actively assisting other nursing managers at Bethesda Meadow in reducing antipsychotic medications in their neighborhoods.     

“Grace is a great role model for her staff and her fellow management team members,” writes Arnold. “Her ambition, excitement to better the lives of our residents, and thirst for learning is contagious.” 

McDonald is currently pursuing a Master of Science in nursing and is enrolled in a Nurse Executive Leader track designed to enhance her leadership abilities. 

About the McHugh Award  

The McHugh Long-Term Care Nursing Academy first presented the McHugh Award in 2006. 

The LeadingAge Center for Applied Research established the academy in 2005 to support quality nurse managers in long-term care settings.

It is important to recognize the importance of resilience to employee well-being, according to HealthStream. 

Resilience is a critical factor for successfully navigating challenges and recovering from adversity, and employees in post-acute care settings encounter a wide range of stressors. 

Providing care itself is physically and emotionally demanding. In the process of providing care, residents and family members may act or speak in difficult ways. Building upon this, employees in post-acute care may feel overworked or their department may be understaffed. 

Finally, insufficient or poor training can also be triggers of workplace stress both for the undertrained employees as well as their coworkers.  

These types of workplace stressors contribute to high employee turnover rates in long-term care industries, which can range between 50% and 100% (Mukamel et al., 2009). 

The Negative Impact of Stress

Workplace stress can impact us and our employees physically, emotionally, and cognitively.  Headaches, muscle tension, rapid heartbeat, gastrointestinal problems, and change in appetite are all physical symptoms of stress.  

Employees who appear depressed, easily agitated, anxious, and unable to relax may be exhibiting stress symptoms.  

Finally, stressed employees may display pessimistic thinking, worry, memory problems, and trouble concentrating. Reducing long-lasting stress is important, because it can have a negative impact on physical health, psychological well-being, and relationships with others. 

Steps Employers Can Take to Counteract Stress

While it’s important to be able to recognize symptoms of stress and manage stressful situations when they occur, there are steps that we can take to proactively increase employee resilience

to stress.  Building a “resilience reserve” can improve employees’ ability to function under stress and enhance their well-being.  Here are suggestions for ways that you can enhance employee resilience by focusing on these five areas that contribute to resilience: 

 

  • Physical health and stamina.
  • Positive emotions and optimism.
  • Social relationships and support networks.
  • Meaning and purpose in life.
  • Planning for future needs.

 

The Importance of Health and Exercise

A keystone to employee resilience is maintaining good physical health and stamina.  It’s important for employees to get appropriate levels of physical activity and nutrition as well as sufficient amounts of sleep at night.  

These behaviors can be encouraged through workplace wellness initiatives, including wellness fairs, gym membership discounts, and the use of health behavior trackers. Employees should also be encouraged to use their vacation time or paid time off to have time to decompress.   

Foster Optimism and Positive Outlooks

Employees with high resilience also tend to experience more positive emotions and display greater optimism bout future events. Employers can strive to create a positive work culture that encourages employees to build on heir strengths and celebrate successes. 

Avoiding negative self-talk and sharing positive experiences with coworkers can help increase employees’ positive emotions. In addition, employees should be encouraged to express gratitude when their coworkers’ help them or positively impact their work in some way.  

A coworker recently wrote me a thank-you note for guiding her on new workplace technology and it really brightened my day.

Engagement and a Sense of Belonging

Employee resilience can be enhanced through team building and establishing strong relationships with coworkers.  

Pairing new employees with a “mentor” can help new employees become accustomed to workplace procedures and culture and create a sense of belonging.  

As a mentor, I have found it personally and professionally gratifying to teach others what I have learned and to help them advance towards person-centered care and collaborative team work. 

Work That Has Meaning

Employees who feel that their work is meaningful and who have a clear understanding of how their efforts contribute to the company’s mission may display greater resilience.  

Managers should try to ensure that employees understand the importance of their role in the company. As an example, many healthcare settings are now embracing the “great catch award” to recognize employees who help prevent falls and uphold an organization’s culture of safety.  

In addition, efforts should be made to help employees establish a good work/life balance that enables them to feel that they are satisfying all aspects of their lives.  

Focusing on the Future for Staff

Resilience can also be increased by proactively anticipating future needs and challenges, and preparing for these needs in advance.  

Employer-provided benefits, such as 401K plan contributions and health insurance discounts, are one way of helping employees to plan for their future needs.  

In addition, employee training and establishing employee development plans support employees’ future needs.

Overall, there are many steps that employers and employees can take to increase employee resilience and enhance employees’ ability to overcome workplace stressors.  

Programs and coaching aimed at increasing physical and emotional well-being, building relationships, creating meaning and purpose, and planning for future needs can enhance employee resilience.  

This analysis was prepared by HealthStream.

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