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The following is a summary of “Well-being interventions for emergency department staff: ‘necessary’ but ‘inadequate’ – a phenomenographic study,” published in the November 2024 issue of Emergency Medicine by Beckham et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to explore UK emergency department (ED) staff’s experiences with interventions to support well-being amidst prevalent stress and burnout.  

They interviewed 9 staff members from various professional backgrounds at a UK tertiary trauma center between June and July 2023. Participants were included if they had worked in a UK National Health Service ED setting for over 12 months and were asked about experiences and perceptions of workplace well-being interventions and a phenomenographical approach was used to analyze the narrative data.  

The results showed 7 distinct and interconnected categories. Participants perceived interventions as necessary due to the stressful work environment, beneficial for well-being, feasible in an ED setting, inadequate due to quality and accessibility issues, improving with increased acceptability and support, restricted by clinical and organizational factors, and ambiguous in definition, measurement, and individual interpretation with facilitated reflection and leadership role modeling.   

Investigators concluded that job demands required and limited the provision of adequate well-being interventions in the ED, emphasizing the need for organizational changes that include self-care resources, protected reflection time, accessible learning, staff training, and positive leadership role modeling. 

Source: emj.bmj.com/content/early/2024/11/04/emermed-2023-213852