BY Becky Scutro, RHIA / HIT Program Coordinator, Florida
All of us sleep, but none of us completely understands how sleep affects our wellbeing. The pace of change in our society has changed our sleep habits, and how long, how well, and how often we sleep affects us in innumerable ways. Some studies suggest both our long term and short-term health is affected. We all remember pulling long hours studying for finals, or a big project at work and seeing our co-worker or ourselves succumb to short-term illness. Deep and lasting emotional stress may lead to illness as well, but science has not been able to quantify a direct relationship. I bring this up because healthcare delivery and healthcare management roles in the continuum of care has seen changes impinge on our work-life balance. Our ability to get enough good and restful sleep is often compromised. We underestimate the toll it can take on both managers and our team members.
The advent of the EHR and the financial pressures on the systems of healthcare delivery has changed the playing field for the HIM managers, and their departments. More of us have responsibilities that span the clock; we have more technology that communicate to us in real time, and intrude into our personal and family lives. Many of us are “on call” for IT related problems. Downtimes of the EHR planned during periods of less activity, a weekend night for example, are at best inconvenient. Unplanned downtimes can involve us at any time. Our team members are often performing juggling acts, balancing work with school or family. All of these factors lead to high levels of stress and interrupted sleep patterns. A somewhat nebulous yet contiguous chain of events lead to higher call in rates, higher attrition rates, and further challenges to management that can easily spiral out of control if we do not take positive and pragmatic steps to mitigate the negative outcomes as we see these trends arise in our work groups.
Education regarding the importance of regular sleep cycles, stress reduction and reasonable nutrition and exercise has had measurable benefits in many industries. The empowerment of team members to take actions in emergent situations without need of management approval reduces unnecessary intrusions when off duty. Clearly outlined decisional trees to address variation reduce team member stress and provide roadmaps when challenges to normal operations occur. The rotation of responsibility and communication between those in charge help reduce confusion and encourage autonomy. Finally, though healthcare is a serious business, full of responsibilities and potential consequence, we need to take ourselves less seriously, and take time, in this hectic fast-paced world, to smell the proverbial rose and dream the impossible dreams.