Mindfulness for Wellbeing

How Do Healthcare Professionals Cope with Emotional Exhaustion?

By Valeria Ortiz Velandia

• October 28, 2024

How Healthcare Professionals Face Burnout and Emotional Exhaustion While Maintaining Compassionate Care

How can healthcare professionals cope with burnout and emotional exhaustion when they face intense emotional challenges daily while striving to provide compassionate and human-centered care?

The healthcare sector is no stranger to physical and emotional exhaustion. Long shifts, high patient volumes, relentless alarms and notifications, an overload of information, and the emotional toll of critical situations are factors that often trigger burnout. This syndrome affects between 50% and 60% of healthcare professionals, according to the Fundación Keralty.

What Is Burnout?

Burnout is recognized as an occupational phenomenon caused by chronic, unmanaged stress. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), its symptoms include negative feelings about work, reduced professional efficacy, and physical fatigue. These symptoms compromise the well-being of professionals and the quality of care they provide.

“There is significant suffering in the healthcare sector, leading to burnout among professionals. Intensive Care Units (ICUs) exemplify the intense physical and emotional burden, resulting in fatigue, stress, and distress for healthcare personnel,” explains Camila Ronderos, Executive Director of Kearlty Compassionate Communities.

Beyond physical exhaustion, emotional strain also contributes to burnout. Healthcare workers face empathy fatigue as they connect deeply with patients but may feel frustration when they cannot do more. Additionally, team tensions, communication challenges, and heavy workloads add to the burden, creating a fast track to burnout.

A Turning Point: Mindfulness and Compassion-Centered Care

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, medical institutions and universities have sought therapeutic alternatives to mitigate burnout risks and reduce its damaging effects on medical, nursing, and support staff. Two widely adopted techniques are mindfulness and compassion-focused therapy.

At Fundación Keralty, the Instituto SER was established to support healthcare professionals and equip them with tools to reduce emotional exhaustion. Camila Ronderos shares that the Presencia y SER program has shown promising results, reducing burnout by 20%-30% within just five weeks while significantly improving participants’ well-being and quality of life.

Mindfulness

This practice provides essential tools to recognize and manage emotions, develop new perceptions of the environment, and transform relationships through mindful awareness. Incorporating mindfulness involves taking purposeful pauses, acknowledging one’s emotions and those of others, and fostering more positive connections.

Compassionate Care

This approach emphasizes care for oneself and others. According to Camila, “It’s about putting yourself in another person’s shoes. Compassion allows us to connect as equals, recognize others, and act in ways that best support them.” Compassion becomes a lasting state that fosters empathy and mutual understanding.

The program focuses on three key indicators of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Participants have reported reduced emotional exhaustion, leading to a decline in depersonalization—or the sense of losing connection with oneself—and an increase in personal fulfillment.

A Ripple Effect Across Healthcare

The impact of such programs extends beyond the individual:

• For Professionals: Reduced burnout, reconnection with purpose, personal growth, and enhanced tools to face daily challenges. This fosters better teamwork and psychological well-being in both professional and personal life.

• For Patients: A closer, more inclusive approach to care, leading to higher satisfaction and improved health outcomes. Patients feel healthcare teams are more attentive, aware, and willing to address their needs.

• For Healthcare Institutions: Enhanced emotional well-being among staff leads to higher commitment, reduced turnover, and decreased absenteeism. Improved patient satisfaction and humanized services strengthen institutional reputation and health outcomes.

Compassion at the Heart of Healthcare

Caring for caregivers and fostering compassion from within are central to wellness programs for healthcare professionals. Promoting mindfulness and compassion not only enhances the well-being of healthcare workers but also cultivates an environment of genuine care for their families, colleagues, and patients.

“We’ve understood the importance of caring for healthcare professionals so that this care is reflected in the patients,” concludes Camila Ronderos, Executive Director - KCC. Ultimately, the goal is to embed care into the fabric of institutions, ensuring well-being for all those involved in the healthcare journey.