SOCW6333 Week 8 Intervention Specific to Organizational Practice Paper Due 04/19/2019
Respond to at least two of your colleagues’ postings. Be sure to respond to a colleague who chose at least one different intervention than you did. Respond in one or more of the following ways: Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
Validate an idea with your own experience.
Expand on your colleague’s posting. Response to Kayla
Addressing Organizational Practices I believe it would be best practice for vicarious trauma interventions to address organizational practices. Organizations can also experience trauma in many different forms, which then starts to impact the culture of that organization (Hormann & Vivian, 2005). Interventions on the individual level are only addressing issues on the surface. It is similar to the iceberg analogy where there are so many more issues going on below the surface that people do not always see or understanding. Organizational, personal, and consistent negative professional issues can impact one’s desire to help others and creates an individual who goes through the motions (Wilson, 2016). Interventions addressing organizational practices would be beneficial to finding solutions to all issues, not just ones on the individual level.
Intervention Specific to Organizational Practice An intervention organizations can use would be the process of scheduling weekly debriefing sessions for all staff. Debriefing is where staff would come together to a safe and supportive environment where they would be encouraged to share their experiencing and emotions based on that week’s events (Morrissette, 2004). It is important for organizations to create a supportive and safe environment for their employees (Bercier & Maynard, 2015). Debriefing would be a way for the organization to offer support, but also a good way for staff to support one another. Through debriefing, people get to share their experiences, and realize they are not alone. It can also help identify any early symptoms of vicarious trauma for staff.
References
Bercier, M. L., & Maynard, B. R. (2015). Interventions for secondary traumatic stress with mental health workers: A systematic review. Research on Social Work Practice, 25(1), 81-89.
Hormann, S., & Vivian, P. (2005). Toward an understanding of traumatized organizations and how to intervene in them. Traumatology, 11(3), 159-169. doi:10.1177/153476560501100302
Morrissette, P. J. (2004). The pain of helping: Psychological injury of helping professionals. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
Wilson, F. (2016). Identifying, preventing, and addressing job burnout and vicarious burnout for social work professionals. Journal Of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 13(5), 479-483. doi:10.1080/23761407.2016.1166856
******************************************************************************************************************************* Response to Mackenzie
Should Vicarious Trauma Interventions address Organizational Practices
When it comes to anything trauma related, we are all aware that more times than not it is unpredictable. Trauma can affect someone in a direct and indirect way. For example, an example of direct trauma is “the bombing of a women’s health clinic that provides abortions” (Hormann & Vivian, 2005). The example of indirect trauma that is provided is “the result of an organization’s continual exposure to trauma through the very nature of its work” (Hormann & Vivian, 2005). I believe that vicarious trauma should address practices within the organization, and an example of an organization that keeps coming to my mind is the Emergency Room. The hospital in general, not just specific to the emergency room faces challenges in this area for several reasons. My personal job experiences have left me to say that the hospital by far had the most turnover rates and open positions for months on end. Nurses were working more than the 12 hour shift they had been given due to being short staffed. Physicians were also working double shifts to cover for other physicians who had to attend to personal matters. Not only is this dangerous for the nurses and physicians, but it also becomes a danger to the patients are the medical professionals who oversee their care are over worked and over tired. The hospital was potentially putting their staff members and the health of the patients at risk to be able to provide enough coverage to follow the nurse to patient ratio. Add the trauma that comes through the emergency room doors to the over worked and over tired nurses and you can bet eventually this will produce vicarious trauma symptoms. “Organizational culture makes sense of its members’ experience, provides answers, and protects against collective and individual anxiety” (Hormann & Vivian, 2005). Just like people, organizations can experience trauma indirectly and directly with similar results. If vicarious trauma interventions do not address organizational practices, then we can expect that there will be no cohesion or improvement in the over all functioning. Organizational Interventions When it comes to interventions the first and more important intervention that comes to mind is education. Educating the staff by hosting trainings or facilitating guest speakers to talk about vicarious trauma in general and especially in the work place would be very beneficial. Everyone can benefit from education whether they think they have a grasp on the situation at hand. Encouraging staff to utilize what they learn in these trainings can enforce the understanding of vicarious trauma but also empower them to seek self-care. When organizations have benefits such as paid time off and vacation time, these are two ways to practice self-care. “Because traumatized systems close down, interventions that promote openness and healthy external relationships are essential. Encouraging inter-organizational cooperation and collaboration helps information and energy flow across boundaries” (Hormann & Vivian, 2005). Regarding the number of nurses who are working well beyond what is considered safe, the hospital had developed a plan to borrow other nurses from other floors to come and assist the staff in the emergency room to relieve those who had been working long hours. These nurses were called floating nurses, which brings the next intervention the hospital took on. The hospital began to reach out and develop contracts with other hospitals to borrow their physicians for a set number for weeks in exchange for a nice compensation, these doctors were called locums. Will there every be a hospital that is fully staffed, with a zero-turnover rate, I am not sure but there have been measures put in place to work on establishing this. With nurses and Physicians working normal hours, frustration in the work environment can decrease. It is important that the hospital takes into consideration the request they are asking of their employees can make matters worse and instead of pushing things on them, they should continue to seek alternative measures to ensure that employees have access to bereavement counseling, vacation, paid time off, and at least a 30 minute uninterrupted lunch break.
References
Hormann, S., & Vivian, P. (2005). Toward An Understanding of Traumatized Organizations and How to Intervene in Them. Traumatology, 159-169. “Place your order now for a similar assignment and have exceptional work written by our team of experts, guaranteeing you A results.”