Staff matter too: pilot staff support intervention to reduce stress and burn-out on a neonatal intensive care unit

Levels of physical and psychological ill health, combined with associated levels of sickness and absence, are high among healthcare workers in the United Kingdom.1 Due to relatively high levels of stress-related staff sickness on our level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the current project was undertaken to examine whether a pilot staff support intervention resulted in a decrease in levels of burn-out and stress-related staff sickness. The intervention was devised following baseline-scoping data (via an anonymous questionnaire) that suggested the team (n=160) experienced difficulties with managing difficult conversations as well as a lack of teamwork on the unit. It was hypothesised that this, combined with a number of traumatic cases experienced by …