Chief Safety Officer Dr. Joan Shook knows firsthand just how stressful it can be to work in a health care environment as demanding and complex as ours.
For the past 20 plus years, she has tended to patients with various types of health conditions in the Emergency Center. Some of those patients got well and went on to live productive lives. Others weren’t so lucky.
The impact of the negative events often leads to stress, fatigue and sometimes depression and blame for all involved in the situation, Shook said. The most profound example of such emotions happened years ago when Shook was a section head in the EC and a therapist came to talk to her group about workplace stress.
“Everyone broke down in tears at that meeting,” she said. “I had no idea the burden my people were carrying.”
To help employees cope with adverse patient events such as errors, unanticipated outcomes or even death, Texas Children’s recently launched a peer-to-peer support team that can be tapped 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Texas Children’s Tandem Support Team provides access to more than 100 trained peer volunteers who are willing and ready to provide reassurance, guidance and overall support.
Director of Employee Health & Wellness Jill Fragoso said the team is comprised of clinical and nonclinical employees from across the entire Texas Children’s system and that all members have been trained by the leading experts in the field of workplace stress in a health care setting.
“Adverse patient events can have a significant impact on the health care professional, colleagues and subsequent patients,” Fragoso said. “That’s why we want to ensure Texas Children’s is doing all we can to guide our employees through such events so they don’t burn out and/or have long lasting emotional effects.”
Staff Chaplain Kristen Springmeyer is one of the 100 trained members of the Tandem Support Team and said she volunteered because she’s seen the need for such a program and believes it will be transformative.
She said the team will give our health care workers the chance to decompress with someone they can trust and with someone who understands where they are coming from. In addition, the team will be able to point employees in need to resources such as the Employee Assistance Program, which provides confidential, professional services such as counseling, stress management and grief support.
“My job is to listen and refer when needed,” Springmeyer said. “It’s that simple, yet so important.”
All employees, managers, supervisors and peers are encouraged to contact the Tandem Support Team after any patient event that causes distress. You can do so one of three ways:
- Page: 832-824-2099 and ask for the “Tandem Support Team.”
- Go to: Connect Sites and Services > Centers, Clinics, Departments > Tandem Support Team
- Find a team member at your location by looking for their special badge slip or lanyard.