Wellbeing and Occupational Health

Wellbeing is top of the agenda for many people, and we're very lucky to have this podcast out at the moment when we've just had the RCOa workforce reports come out, which has shown that wellbeing for anesthetists is lower than the general population, with over half of those answering the, um, survey showing that they had moderate burnout, with, uh, extreme burnout symptoms in about six percent of people.

And it's clearly linked to our stress at work, along with our last-minute sickness leave.

Let's start off with you, Ramya.

What is wellbeing?

So there are l- many definitions, um, and as I've mentioned when I've spoken to this before, often head to ChatGPT, uh, because... primarily because I think it encompasses all the components of wellbeing, and it says it's the overall state of healthy and happy contentment in various aspects of life, and it encompasses both physical, mental wellbeing, as well as one's kind of social connections and emotional wellbeing as well.

So I like the fact that this is multifaceted.

I think where it perhaps falls down is it very much speaks to the individual's responsibility for their own personal wellbeing, and whilst that's true to some small degree within healthcare, I think we know that a lot of the solutions to wellbeing lie within the systemic factors which we'll go on to discuss in this podcast.

So I like the fact that it's really holistic, but we do have to remember that it's not down to the individual solely within the workplace.

Neil, following on from that, why is it important? Why does it matter?

So I think it's worth thinking about wellbeing along a spectrum.

So yeah, most of us get on with our, uh, day-to-day life.

We don't really dwell on how good we're feeling or how bad we're feeling unless it reaches some level of, uh, of, of particular importance.

And so the reason why it's important is when your wellbeing is not as you need it to be, that's when it causes problems.

And, you know, if your wellbeing stays in a poor state, then that actually can lead to you developing a formal mental health problem, like depression or an anxiety disorder.

And so it's inevitable, I think, in the world we live in, particularly in healthcare, that with the stresses that go on, that you're gonna have periods where your wellbeing is not as ideal as you like it.

And so being able to monitor and be aware of your wellbeing, and importantly the wellbeing of your colleagues and your team, means that you can stop people becoming unwell and try and, as I always describe it, push them back into the green zone of being generally okay and getting on with life.

There is, of course, the other side, the more positive side of wellbeing, where, you know, when you go on your holidays, when you interact with your family and your friends, you, you actually do that and it brings you a sense of excitement and enjoyment.

And life isn't all about avoiding being unwell.

You know, we live hopefully not just to work, but... and to try and get to a state of wellbeing and enjoyment, and dare I even say happiness, and so that that's where we wanna be getting towards rather than thinking about it always being on the negative side.