Although many healthcare workers focus on their patients' wellbeing, they neglect their own and do not lead patients by example, according to a new Gallup study.
Here are five things to know about the study, which advocates for better employee engagement through a "care for the healthcare worker" approach.
1. The results are based on a Gallup Panel Web study completed by 24,320 adults. A subsample of 1,300 healthcare working adults was selected for the analysis.
2. Gallup and Healthways, a Franklin, Tenn.-based wellbeing improvement company, developed a definition of wellbeing. The definition includes five elements of wellbeing: purpose, social, financial, community and physical. Respondents were then classified as thriving, struggling or suffering in each element based on their answers.
3. Less than one in 10 healthcare workers is thriving in all five elements of wellbeing. The study found 66 percent of workers are thriving in zero to two elements, while 34 percent is thriving in three to five elements.
4. Healthcare employees with higher wellbeing are 1.6 times more likely to bounce back after illness. Fifty-seven percent of workers thriving in three to five elements are more likely to make a full recovery after illness, injury or hardship. Of the workers thriving in zero to two elements, only 37 percent are likely to fully bounce back.
5. Workers with higher wellbeing are two times less likely to search for another job. Of workers thriving in three to five elements, only 15 percent are likely to look for another job if the market improves. Approximately 31 percent of employees thriving in zero to two elements are likely to search for a new job.