COVID-19: Protecting your assets - The personal and financial impact on your wellbeing handout

Enhancing wellbeing and resilience within the healthcare workforce

While positive emotions are well known to improve wellbeing, negative emotions are also part of the human experience. During stressful circumstances, uncertainty and life disruption, emotions such as worry, anxiety, fear and irritability are expected. The following advice is underpinned by general resilience and wellbeing principles that respect and validate the experiences lived by healthcare workers during the outbreak of COVID-19.

Tips for coping with public health crises

Build connections with others. Social support is fundamental in stress resilience and is strongly associated with active problem-focused coping, enhanced sense of control, positivism and predictability in life.
Foster a sense of belonging. Honour being part of a noble healthcare profession at an unprecedented time of need. This will aid you in developing a sense of agency and to organise resources to cope with stressors.
Seek and offer peer support. Effective peer support can empower you to find new coping strategies, help you develop problem solving and decision-making skills and to find relief by sharing similar experiences with colleagues.
Adopt healthy lifestyle behaviours. Adopt a ‘whole person care’ approach that encompasses mindful awareness of your needs including nutrition, regular exercise, sleep hygiene for optimising sleep.
Foster mindfulness and continuous reflection. Mindful presence and reflection before performing an action, while in action, and after action can stimulate flexibility and agility for resilience.

Strategies to manage difficult conversations

Seeking help is a positive, resilient behaviour that protects you
Practice mindful presence and awareness
Acknowledge any conflicts
Challenge your own assumptions
Appreciate multiple perspectives to develop insight

Practical tips to protect yourself from trauma

Practise self-observation - recognise and chart your signs of stress, vicarious trauma and burnout.
Maintain a healthy work/life balance – foster outside of work interests.
Seek social support from colleagues, family members
Use peer support and opportunities to debrief.
Take up training opportunities

Practical strategies to manage your financial wellbeing

Understand the stimulus measures that are applicable
Know your numbers, prepare a cashflow forecast, keep it updated
Identify costs that can be rationalised
Effective communication is paramount: adoption of telehealth, ongoing staff education and awareness, staff health and safety measures
Check accurate use of Medicare item and incentive payment claims
Consider initiatives to generate alternate patient activity
Consider tools in your Practice to identify key metrics and flag patient needs (Cubiko)

References

Money matters

MIPS Wellbeing Resources

Equality and self-care in healthcare

Being the doctor’s doctor - My experience of practitioner health and welfare

How we're assisting members during the COVID-19 pandemic

Poonian J, Walsham N, Kilner T, Bradbury E, Brooks K, West E. Managing Healthcare Worker Wellbeing in an Australian Emergency Department during The COVID‐19 Pandemic. Emergency Medicine Australasia. 2020 May 9.

Wald HS. Optimizing resilience and wellbeing for healthcare professions trainees and healthcare professionals during public health crises-Practical tips for an ‘integrative resilience’ approach. Medical Teacher. 2020 May 25:1-2.