Our colleagues in HMI Dublin were delighted to welcome Dr Pádraig Dunne, RCSI Centre for Positive Psychology & Health to address the topic “From Burnout to Resilience”. Pádraig presented a very thorough and in-depth explanation about burnout, how we can identify it in ourselves (increased emotional exhaustion, increased depersonalisation and decreased personal achievement). Much of Pádraig’s research to date has focused on healthcare workers making him well placed to discuss the topic with HMI members.

He went on to explore the impact of burnout on people individually and how this influenced their interactions with others within a healthcare setting. Pádraig encourages us all to take stock of where we are in relation to burnout by completing either the Maslach Burnout Inventory online or the Copenhagen Burnout Scale and to take action if we are in either the intermediate or high zone for emotional exhaustion or depersonalisation. He addressed the root causes of burnout and also how our perception of our environment can lead to burnout. So, what can be done?

Building our resilience can act as the antidote to burnout. Resilience is the capacity to prepare for, recover from and adapt in the face of stress, challenge or adversity. To build and maintain resilience, we also need to attend to the domains of resilience, (healthy eating, sleep, tobacco & alcohol control, purpose, relationships, physical exercise and mental health). Pádraig discussed the physiology of stress to allow us to understand what is going on in our bodies at such times and how this influences our reactions. He closed his presentation by giving us a toolkit to help to build our own stock of personal resilience. You can read Pádraig’s presentation here.