Employees at Næstved, Slagelse and Ringsted Hospitals are now offered personal tests of their well-being and mental health. Ongoing tests paired with psychological counseling have made both employees and patients happier at the surgical departments.
Sabina Lund has been a nurse at the surgical department at Næstved, Slagelse and Ringsted hospitals since 2017, where her department went through large changes that involved the well-being of employees:
“We experienced many people on long term sick leave and suffering from stress”, said Sabina Lund. So something had to be done in order to create a better working environment:
One of the new measures was an alert system where the employees in 30 seconds were able to test their wellness through an app – in order to then be offered a dialogue with occupational psychologists if necessary.
“We noticed a decline in sick days from the very beginning, and we have not had any employees on long term sick leave since we started measuring. It has been a massive benefit for us,” says Sabina Lund, who believes that the alert system has created a form of robustness in the department, because the employees are experiencing a better focus on their professional skills when the management deals with the responsibility of well-being:
“What we get out of these tests are a form of “temperature measurement”, providing and overview of: How many people have responded, where the general levels of well-being are at, and how many people have made use of the help from an occupational psychologist. I do not see any details for individual employees,” explains Sabina Lund and concludes:
“In this way we have created a safe space in the working environment, because we as management with this tool for well-being are signaling: It is not a problem of the individual if there are low levels of well-being,” says Sabina Lund.
And it is not just the employees who can feel an improvement in their daily lives:
“When we started, we got many complaints from both patients and relatives who did not feel properly heard or seen by the staff. That is almost gone now, despite there being vacancies in our department.”
“Now we are being praised instead,” says Sabina Lund, who works as head nurse and has been an active proponent of the Howdy App alert system, which is now being deployed to all of the roughly 3,000 employees at the hospital.
Hospital Director Niels Reichstein Larsen is hopeful in regards to the project:
“We believe that with this offer for our employees, we will be able to further the positive development we have experienced in the surgical department. The hospital is a busy workplace, so in order for us to retain and further develop our skilled employees, it is necessary to invest in our employees’ well-being and working environment,” says Niels Reichstein Larsen.
Hospital director Niels Reichstein Larsen from NSR Hospitals in Region Zealand (pictured in the middle) is now offering 3,000 employees the opportunity to have their mental wellbeing tested on an ongoing basis. Photo: Howdy