Projects

The emergency department is one of the most stressful places to work in health care, with clinician burnout featuring more often in the lay medial and peer-review literature. It is imperative we understand and work with emergency clinicians and hospital health service managers to assist with implementing appropriate strategies designed to effectively help our front line staff. This research project aims to provide a baseline understanding as to what factors of their working environment emergency department staff find most stressful, and what strategies they use to cope with these stressors. The knowledge gained from this study will inform future research, such as longitudinal studies to determine changes over time, as well as the development, implementation and evaluation of targeted strategies designed to assist staff work in busy emergency departments, both in Australia and internationally.

“This multi-disciplinary, international program of research aims to understand what aspects of the working environment doctors and nurses find most stressful and how they cope with these stressors. By doing so, we can inform the use of targeted strategies designed to minimise the impact of these stressors and assist with coping. Involving international emergency clinicians and academics
may provide us with valuable insights and opportunities to learn from each other.”

— Prof Julia Crilly