Is Your Health Workforce Overworked and Burnt Out?

There are plenty of challenges in the world of modern healthcare, and one of the most prevailing of them is staff burnout. The World Health Organisation characterises burnout as feeling exhausted and disengaged from your job while experiencing reduced professional efficacy.* In 2020, 71 per cent of hospital workers surveyed reported feeling burnt out,* and the impact of Covid and staff shortages mean the problem continues. 

In most hospitals, staff can often feel as though they’re being pulled in multiple directions, loaded with administrative tasks and, due to time and workflow restraints, not able to deliver the level of patient care that enables job engagement and satisfaction.

Thankfully, being in the 21st Century also means technology is constantly advancing to allow healthcare workers to feel more supported while they care for patients.

At Ascom, we design technology and communication solutions for the healthcare industry to help create a safer and more harmonious work environment for staff and patients. We’ve been pioneers in the healthcare communications industry for 50 years, so we have a deep understanding of the challenges involved while being on the cutting edge of technology. 

Our Ascom Myco smartphone, for instance, helps you stay connected with both patients and colleagues. The handheld device allows you to make calls with strong and clear audio, send messages, perform health audits, and streamline data. One of the many benefits of this technology is that it allows you to contact co-workers instantly in an emergency rather than spending time searching for someone to help — thereby improving your sense of efficacy.

Ascom Myco also enables nursing staff to communicate with patients without visiting their rooms. Patients in need can hit a button to alert the staff, who will each know exactly where the alert is coming from. Research shows that burnout relates to the moral distress that’s caused when staff don’t feel as though they can provide adequate patient care*: Ascom Myco means that your nursing staff feel more supported and better equipped to make well-informed decisions for their patients.

Ascom Telligence, meanwhile, is the latest evolution in nurse call systems. Telligence includes a point-of-care technology hub with centralised task management and allows easy audio communication with labs, front desks, and pharmacies as well as patients and co-workers. It facilitates an automated staff presence at the bedside, in inpatient rooms, and in clinical care areas via a unique patient response system that captures and shares information from multiple sources for faster response times. Telligence also features an award-winning pillow speaker that gives patients a voice, plus speciality buttons so they can easily communicate needs such as water, pain management, and blankets.

Telligence is far more sophisticated and comprehensive than anything we’ve seen before in nurse call technology — but that doesn’t mean it’s complicated: in fact, the system is designed to simplify your workflow by centralising the management and tracking of tasks. It can decrease time spent in administration by providing documentation support, reducing duplication, and updating quickly to EHR/EMR. It’s also adaptable and modular so that it can be customised to the specific needs of your team and evolve with you over the years.