Your Wellbeing Matters

Implementing appropriate and effective wellbeing practices in the workplace has become a priority for businesses, departments and companies across all sectors, as they shift their focus to people and culture, after a difficult few years during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many healthcare workers, focusing on wellbeing and implementing practices to better allow healthcare workers to do so, is something that still requires work. Patrice Murray, a Registered Nurse, and Branch Councillor at the ANMF ACT, has been working on better understanding workplace culture and safety for Nurses and Midwives for the past three years. After joining the ACT Chief Nursing and Midwifery Office, Patrice began work on the ACT Nurses and Midwives: Towards a Safer Culture Strategy (TASC). The strategy is led by the ACT Health Directorate, in association with Canberra Health Services and Calvary Public Hospital Bruce. The ANMF ACT has been a key stakeholder, engaging with ACT Health to successfully develop and progress the strategy. “I worked quite closely with members of the ANMF ACT. I really have enjoyed building that relationship with them because at the end of the day, we all have the same goals in mind. We want to improve workplace culture and safety for Nurses and Midwives.” It was the efforts of the ANMF ACT’s lobbying that led to the ACT Legislative Assembly committing in 2016, in the ninth parliamentary agreement, to create and develop what was then known as the Nurse Safe Strategy.

Throughout her career, and 13 years as an ANMF ACT member, Patrice has worked to understand and improve workplace culture and safety for Nurses and Midwives. Her experiences and learnings have taught her that wellbeing is not a singular idea – it’s multi-faceted.

“Wellbeing is not just one single thing. It is unique, and I think that it’s something that we actively have to work on.”

What’s become especially evident to Patrice is just how important wellbeing is for others in the professions.

“I think that it’s really important for us to be able to maintain our own mental health and wellbeing as Nurses and Midwives. We are that pillar in the community. It’s vital that our workforce is taken care of, so that we can care for the community and do our job correctly.” Patrice said that for Nurses and Midwives, it’s not uncommon to deny themselves time to rest, or to not prioritise taking time off. With staff shortages and extended shifts, sometimes it can feel like there are no other options but to take on the extra work.

“We’re just continuously working without integrating workplace practices to rest and recover.”

ANMF ACT member and Branch Councillor, Patrice Murray

ANMF ACT Branch Councilors, Patrice Murray, Janine Davidson, Susana Lloyd, Wendy Burton, Vanessa Hoban, Lyndsey Ohman, Leanne Ehrlich, Donna PrestonBond, Carol Sandland, Jessie Price, Athalene Rosborough, and Matthew Daniel

This continuous push is something that seems to be unique to nursing and midwifery. Where other professions can schedule downtime and separate their work and home life with clear boundaries, the nature of working in the healthcare sector means prioritising your wellbeing is often tricky. “We work in the healthcare system. We’re looking out for the health and wellbeing of others. I sometimes think we put ourselves last and don’t actually look after ourselves properly.”

Through her work, Patrice has seen that the best way to ensure health and wellbeing is prioritised is to encourage teams to look after each other.

“The teams that I think really look after their health and wellbeing, support each other. They have a really good workplace culture, they put their people first. One another’s health and wellbeing come first.”

In terms of bringing this vision to reality, Patrice said it goes beyond tokenistic gestures. “Organisations want to see genuine partnership and collaboration amongst these teams to help support their health and wellbeing. It’s actually having an interest in their colleagues. It’s getting to know one another, taking the time to appreciate the challenges or successes of our peers. In this day and age where we’re incredibly busy, we can’t be too busy for one another.”

Patrice said that one of the easiest things managers can do to promote wellbeing amongst their staff is to remind them of the support available. Better yet, they can go a step further to support their team in actually engaging with these resources.

ANMF ACT members have been vital in campaigning for more support and resources to become available to Nurses and Midwives, with fantastic results seen across multiple government initiatives, including TASC. Patrice said that ANMF ACT members have played a vital role in helping to prioritise Nurse and Midwife safety and wellbeing. They help empower Patrice and others to challenge the status quo, asking the necessary questions to see real change. “It’s important to challenge the status quo and question traditional ways of working. Why do we do things the way that we do them? Why has it always been that way, and can it be better? When it comes to prioritising our health and wellbeing, I think that we should always be striving for better.”