healthcare wellness

By Thomas Davis, DNAP, MAE, CRNA

This article is written in mid-April when the cold winter winds are being calmed by temperate spring temperatures and the snow is being chased away by the warm rain that will awaken the trees and flowers. As the days get longer, people who vowed to “improve health” as a new year’s resolution are doubling down in preparation for summer activities. There is no better time for a leader, regardless of the profession, to introduce wellness to the balance of work-life that is essential when creating a preferred workplace.

Wellness is a win/win

Promoting employee wellness brings benefits for both the individual and the organization. Writing in the Harvard Business review, authors Berry, Mirabito, and Baun give several examples to support the benefits of employee wellness to the overall organization. Noted in their article, “A study by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health shows that organizations with highly effective wellness programs report significantly lower voluntary attrition than do those whose programs have low effectiveness (9% vs. 15%). According to Vicki Banks, Biltmore’s director of benefits and compensation, “Employees who participate in our wellness programs do not leave.” In addition to improved retention, other studies document the increase in productivity tied to employee wellness.

It starts with you

Personal wellness starts with you and requires commitment to both physical and mental health. Initially, wellness will be something that you do however, over time, repeated behavior becomes a habit, and wellness becomes who you are.

The University of Kansas has made a commitment to promoting wellness and work-life balance in the workplace. Organizational wellness at KU follows a three-prong approach.

Physical wellness: The University encourages physical activity and provides employer sponsored gym memberships. In addition, healthy nutrition is promoted by supplying healthy options in vending machines. Workspace is re-designed to accommodate ergonomic flow that does not strain the body or eyes.
Mental: Leaders are trained to be sensitive to the needs of employees and use emotional intelligence to recognize stress and impending burnout. Schedules and workflow are adjusted to support the capabilities of the employee.
Culture: The University expects leaders to set a positive example and participate in wellness initiatives. In addition, incentives are provided for employees who participate.

Get yourself going

Alter your daily routine and incorporate physical activity three times per day. Get up a few minutes early and do a brief warmup with a 5-minute walk in your house followed by light stretching. If you have stairs in your home, you have a built-in stair master…a few trips up and down will get your heart pumping. Stairs can also be used for stair push-ups. Weather permitting, take 15 minutes to walk around the block before work.

Take your wellness commitment to the workplace and plan a brief activity during your lunch break. A brisk walk through the hallways followed by light stretching will rejuvenate your body for the afternoon work ahead. Throw in a few flights of stairs to boost the workload on your heart and legs. Take your own healthy food for lunch and avoid high carbohydrate, fatty foods.

Writing for verywellfit.com, author Ann Pizer describes workplace exercises that can be done at the desk. CRNAs are very creative and, no doubt, could adapt them to the OR workplace which include.

Neck rolls
Cat-cow stretch
Seated forward bend
Seated eagle
Seated spine twist
Wrist stretch
Standing pigeon

After work, continue to be active by taking an outdoor walk or bike ride. A stop at the gym for cardio revitalize the mind after work and keep the body moving. At bedtime, plan a 15-minute cool down to include a few yoga stretches and meditation.

Get your workplace going

Build a culture of wellness in your workgroup by planning team activities that encourage your colleagues to get up and go. Having a workout buddy creates accountability and often leads to a personal friendship. Encouraging the entire group to participate in planned activities not only promotes wellness but also provides an avenue for teambuilding. In including the colleague and their family members opens opportunities for family day activities. Here are some suggestions for memorable gatherings that promote wellness.

Walk
Jog
Hike
Bike
Tennis
Pickleball
Swim
Log your step competition

Family days are fun and will

bring colleagues together outside the workplace. Plan a day at the park or beach. Find a central location that is convenient for several activities so that some could walk a paved path while others are hiking in the woods or riding bikes. Meet back in a central location for a snack/cookout and other group activities such as volleyball or cornhole.

Workplace wellness has been proven to increase morale and employee retention while reducing the number of days missed due to illness and injury. Individuals enjoy better health with a more robust lifestyle and organizations benefit from increased productivity and reduced cost of turnover. It is a true win/win for all. Be proactive and push for wellness in your workgroup.

Tom is an experienced leader, educator, author, and requested speaker. Click here for a video introduction to Tom’s talk topics.

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Employee Wellness is No Joke

By Liz Sanner Davis. Liz is a Certified personal trainer and frequent author for procrna.com

It’s one of the biggest jokes in the lay community. Q. Where can you find the sickest people? A. In a hospital! You probably don’t think that’s funny because every day you look at people with broken arms or legs, or repeat patients who have brutally aggressive melanomas or who live with the consequences of diabetes. Their pain is not amusing. But the joke, the cynically funny part, is that the joke is really referring to the hospital employees, your physician or physician’s assistant, the chief surgeon or anesthetist, the head of HR or the department secretary, YOU. The overweight and out of shape hospital employee appears as a huge disappointment to patients who are sick and seek your help.

Two-hundred-plus years ago, extra body fat was considered to be a sign of wealth. Abbigail Adams, after all, was short and fat. In spite of her years of physical labor on the farm and having to endure significant revolutionary war shortages, Abby still “enjoyed” a majority of her years ingesting quantities of comfort food. She and others of wealth and repute often made huge contributions to society whilst making ample time, following the years of economic travails of the war, for sitting, eating and being served often, if not well.

Is that you? Are you, in spite of 40-50 hours per week on your feet, in spite of regular paychecks and good benefits, in spite of wellness issues smacking you with direct hits daily, are you fat and flabby with chronic pain that plagues you all the way to the peanut butter cups and chocolate bars in the break room? Well, then, the joke’s on you, ‘though the patient isn’t laughing.

Don’t get me wrong. Being laughed at is ok on occasion, but laughing with is a whole lot more fun, and being the laughingstock? Not fun at all. In a new society that likes to outsource responsibility for their health to the healthcare industry, what part of your health problem is theirs, and what part of the problem is yours to fix or to prevent?

One can follow the history of workplace wellness in a timeline that begins with centuries-old Asian cultures, where employers dictated the wellness rules to employees. Throughout central Europe taxpayers supported and still support mandatory month-long employee holidays, thermal baths included. In the 1800’s, westward across the pond the wealthy elite offered workplace exercise activities to other wealthy elite. George Pullman, of rail fame, was one of the first to provide for general employee onsite wellness. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/companies-meddling-in-employee-health-since-1880-2013-04-11)

The1970’s until the present have brought gradual changes to wellness in America. We have tried to approach wellness the same way we approach politics – by keeping The Nutrition Party and the Exercise Party separate. But over the last 45+ years, we have learned that exercise coupled with nutrition equals wellness. Along the way during those 45 years, the cost of living, the cost of healthcare and, therefore, the cost of taxes has risen exponentially. Fewer people carry the large economic burden and as medical know-how improves and the need for healthcare increases, the health of over-worked, over-stressed and over-tired employees has created a greater need than ever for wellness in the workplace. Employers are stepping up.

Broward, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla, advertises, “We are a hospital-based fitness center with professionals certified by the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Our staff includes nutritionists and personal trainers who are educated in exercise physiology and nutrition, helping you create a healthier body, inside and out.”
Employees at The Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD provide a wealth of options presented on a monthly calendar that guides employees to the right location whether to enjoy a walking program or a smoking cessation appointment. Incentives are offered to encourage participation and commitment, and who doesn’t love praise and free stuff?
Grant Health and Fitness Center in Columbus, Ohio promotes “…health enhancement and disease prevention.” It is associated with a vast network of area hospitals and all locations have employee-friendly hours, a no-excuses kind of offer to help you maintain your status as an employee rather than as a patient.
The Cooper Institute, Dallas, TX has associated itself with healthcare entities for decades and offers certification for employees to return to the workplace and develop wellness/fitness programs. The Cooper’s credible certification program attracts healthcare, corporate and government clients worldwide.

Providing employee wellness programs like these benefits the employer as well as the participant. Company insurance rates go down based on number of participants and proven results. Employee absenteeism is significantly reduced. People who work out together, work better together. They’re happier and, usually, just nicer to be around. And the quality of work provided by the healthy employee improves the entire company culture. Good health should reduce healthcare costs and reduced health care costs should lower our taxes!

But, be ready to pay if you want to play. Everyone wants something for free. If one thing has a fee and the other is free, we all know we will try very hard to make the freebie work, even if it really doesn’t. And if something costs nothing, the likelihood that we will follow through with the acquisition diminishes along with the return.

If wellness and fitness programs are not available at your place of work, get on it. the gym manager to your department chair. Head to Dallas to get certified at the Cooper Institute. After a rigorous week or two of classes and examinations, you could be qualified to blaze some trails to a clinic back home in Mississippi or Wyoming.

If wellness and fitness programs are available at your place of work, get to it. Join a program or help design a new one. Arrange to work with a qualified trainer. Get a work-out buddy and give and get the support that a partner provides, even and especially if you get to make a new friend doing it. For quality results, be certain to follow an integrated program that includes nutrition along with fitness. Be prepared and willing to pay the fee if it isn’t free.

So, what card will you be at work – the joke or the joker? Peanut butter and banana sandwiches may be how many of us got through college, but not through life. Take advantage of the whole-meal-deal offered by the employer at your place of work, and remember: The changes you make, the integrated health that you display to the patient, increases their trust and respect in the entire healthcare industry. Together, the patient’s trust and your good health will leave a permanent impression on history.

More:

http://www.corporatewellnessmagazine.com/worksite-wellness/the-evolution-of/http://www.bethesdaweb.com/employee-wellness-programs http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/18-most-popular-wellness-programs-for-hospital-employees.html

http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/what-hospitals-are-doing-employee-wellness/2012-03-15

http://www.amnhealthcare.com/the-roi-of-hospital-employee-wellness-programs/

http://www.cooperinstitute.org/pub/class_list.cfm?course_id=303