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Her workshops have been well-received among members of the health care community. Group Health Cooperative and the Veterans Administration in Seattle have both held retreats for staff members and are incorporating team building and reflective practice time into their work environments.

Neubauer uses a structured reflective practice process to train managers in how they can better support their nurses and what changes can be made in their workplace to increase job satisfaction among staff.

“I’ve seen many nurses who are emotionally worn out and think their only solution is to pursue a new career,” Neubauer said. “In fact, what they really need is a new way to work with their life experiences.”

Solace in sharing

Terri Lindeman, MS, PNP, RN, has spent a large portion of her career caring for children who are gravely ill.

“It is always a horrible experience when you lose a pediatric patient,” said Lindeman, a mother of two who lives in Hercules, Calif.

While working at Children’s Hospital Boston, Lindeman learned to channel her grief through hospital-sponsored “grief rounds.” A week after the death of a pediatric patient, family members and the hospital care team were invited to gather to share memories of the patient and talk about their feelings. A bereavement counselor facilitated their meetings.

“These meetings provided staff with an opportunity to address their emotions and to grieve,” Lindeman said. “We found solace in sharing with each other and realizing we weren’t alone in our feelings.”

After moving to California, Lindeman took a job in the outpatient oncology department at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., and found another support system among her nursing colleagues.

“Dealing with critically ill children day after day can be emotionally challenging,” Lindeman said. “Some days, there aren’t any happy endings.”

Realizing they needed a time to recharge, nurses from the oncology department made a pact to get together several times a year outside of work. Plans included going to dinner, meeting at a colleague’s home or indulging at a spa.

“These regular outings provided us with a chance to be together outside of the workplace,” Lindeman said. “And even more importantly, to reconnect with the reasons we decided to originally become nurses.”

Contact Linda Childers at eastbaypr@aol.com.