A logotherapy colleague I know managed to teach a bit of logotherapy at her workplace as a nurse. She shared ideas such as asking patients about their lives and putting on music for them. Her co-workers and administrators weren’t very open to it. They were suffering from burnout, and they felt that this was just one more burdensome task they had to do, an additional source of unwanted stress.
What makes a job stressful? Is it the multitude of tasks? Is it the deadlines? Is it the responsibility? All of these play a part.
But I want to focus on one cause of stress which points to a need of the human spirit. We have to feel like we’re doing something no one else can do. We’re not just a replaceable cog in the wheel.
When Frankl talks about work as one of the avenues for finding meaning, he says that it doesn’t matter what kind of work you do. It’s the uniqueness of your contribution, the way you do something that you are particularly suited for, that makes you irreplaceable and causes you to feel there is significance to your existence.
For example, a doctor exercises skills in the course of his work, but other doctors could dispense the same medicine. What is special about one person’s role is the personality he brings to whatever he or she is doing.
Any of the other nurses could be moving around bedpans, but there’s something beyond the usual aspects of the job that only you can do. As Frankl states, “Only when he goes beyond the limits of purely professional service, beyond the trick of the trade, does he being that truly personal work which alone is fulfilling.” (The Doctor and the Soul, p 119)
So when my friend and colleague suggested to the other nurses that they look their patients in the eye and take just a moment to find out what will make them more comfortable, or ask the patient about his life as they’re adjusting his infusion, she was giving them a tool for helping both their patients and themselves at the same time.
This is how we are made. What we give comes back to us, and what we give of our uniqueness comes back to us in even greater magnitude. The personal touch and the kind word energizes the medical practitioner because he is giving in a way that no one else can. Thus, what is helpful for the patient is equally helpful for the doctor in avoiding burnout. And that is why her colleagues did appreciate her suggestions, to the degree that they got past their resistance to trying it.