How realistic is it to expect health care workers to model mental, physical, and spiritual health?
Health care workers are expected to embody all the characteristics and traits which manifest living a healthy life. This is crucial so that they become the perfect models of physical, mental, and spiritual health. As emphasized in a study reported by MacReady (2012), there could be potential problems when healthcare workers seem to have problems of practicing what they preach. As health care practitioners, they are expected to have gained greater in-depth understanding of health issues, including maintaining a health disposition through holistic observance of balanced diet, exercise, and regular check-ups through theoretical frameworks and work experience.
If Americans tend to be overweight, underactive workaholics who experience burnout, why should health care workers be any different?
Health care workers should exhibit standards of excellence in embodying good health so that they could be reliable in their field of endeavor. It was explicitly indicated that “healthcare professionals play a central role in health promotion and lifestyle information towards patients as well as towards the general population, and it has been shown that own lifestyle habits can influence attitudes and counselling practice towards patients” . Due to the highly influential nature of health care professionals’ roles in patient care, there is extreme significance in observing good habits and behavioral patterns that are consistent with healthy habits. It is part of the responsibilities of health care practitioners to address various health dilemmas, including overweight (physical chronic illnesses), burnout due to mental stress, and even assisting in fast recovery through spiritual healing. Therefore, it is just appropriate that these healthcare practitioners should be in the best of health for them to be believable, credible, and viable in their profession.
References
Ingibjörg H Jonsdottir, I., Börjesson, M., & Ahlborg Jr., G. (2011). Healthcare workers’ participation in a healthy lifestyle-promotion project in western Sweden. BMC Public Health, 11: 448, 1-9.
MacReady, N. (2012, December 19). Healthcare Workers Often Fail to Practice What They Preach. Retrieved from Medscape Today: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/776474
