Into the Field of Suffering: Finding the Other Side of Burnout

Author:   David Schenck (former Director of Ethics, former Director of Ethics, Medical University of South Carolina) ,  Scott Neely (Minister, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, SC)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
ISBN:  

9780197666739


Pages:   160
Publication Date:   01 June 2023
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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Into the Field of Suffering: Finding the Other Side of Burnout


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Overview

Healthcare providers are constantly confronted with illness and injury, and the challenges of healing. Yet this very work, the relief of suffering, inflicts on healthcare providers suffering of their own that is often crippling. The most common terms for the pain caregivers and healers suffer from are burnout and moral distress. These common terms are, however, often used judgmentally--as if those trying to heal others have failed themselves, their colleagues, and their patients. The net result is that much discussion of burnout and moral distress, and the interventions they underwrite, have served only to worsen the crisis. Into the Field of Suffering: Finding the Other Side of Burnout provides a much-needed reframing of burnout and moral distress. These depleting experiences are approached as trials virtually inevitable in the course of the healer's vocation. The challenge medical professionals and caregivers face is not avoiding them, but meeting them directly with insight into the role of moral distress and burnout in the development of their vocation. Into the Field of Suffering presents a set of analytical frameworks and awareness skills, which have the potential to transform the work of healers and caregivers. There is a growing body of academic literature on these topics, and many memoirs recounting distressing situations and wounding traumas. Into the Field of Suffering takes its place alongside these works, while offering a distinctly different approach that treats as essential the spiritual dimension of the healing vocation. Practices, teachings and dialogues to assist in the cultivation of compassion and gratitude are key components in this presentation. Schenck and Neely address their readers in a direct voice, speaking to the sense of failure and discouragement so many healthcare professionals and caregivers experience on a daily basis. This is a book that carries a mentor's voice and presence, born out of experience with burnout and moral distress, and grounded in hundreds of conversations, de-briefings and interviews with healthcare workers and caregivers, patients and families.

Full Product Details

Author:   David Schenck (former Director of Ethics, former Director of Ethics, Medical University of South Carolina) ,  Scott Neely (Minister, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, SC)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 21.30cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 14.70cm
Weight:   0.308kg
ISBN:  

9780197666739


ISBN 10:   0197666736
Pages:   160
Publication Date:   01 June 2023
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments A Note on Sources and Method Invitation: For You Who Do This Work Part I. Vocation as Path Chapter 1. The Healing Vocation Chapter 2. On Depletion and Burnout: Reframing the Darkness Chapter 3. How Breakthrough Happens: The Mutuality of Healing Chapter 4. The Practice of Replenishment and Renewal: Core Exercises Chapter 5. In Conclusion: On Healing Presence and Gratitude Part II. The Dialogues: Deepening Capacity Dialogue 1. Honing the Exercises Dialogue 2. The Exercises as Spiritual Disciplines Dialogue 3. The Essential Skill of Advocacy Dialogue 4. The Field of Suffering Is the Field of Healing Dialogue 5. The Fulcrum and the Great Compassion Appendix: A Practice Calendar References Index

Reviews

This book is a useful tool for those starting their careers in medicine who are looking for anticipatory guidance in how to navigate the tumultuous waters of a decades-long career surrounded by suffering. It is a quick read, though not easy. It is moving, challenging, and thought-provoking. It reframes things in a way that feels more authentic than the common 'prevent burnout with wellness workshops' mentality. For those near the world's most suffering (ICU, hospice, palliative care, PICU), this book may be a welcome friend on their journey. * Duncan L Campbell, M.D.(The Ohio State University) *


Author Information

David Schenck is the former Director of the Ethics Program, Medical University of South Carolina, and was on the faculty of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is co-author of two books that approach ethics and healing in healthcare from an empirical perspective, Healers: Extraordinary Clinicians at Work (Oxford, 2015) and What Patients Teach: Everyday Ethics of Healthcare (Oxford, 2013). Schenck taught philosophy and religion for 20 years and has published widely in bioethics, philosophy, and religious studies. He was founding executive director of a free medical clinic, healthcare advocate for the homeless, and a 25-year hospice volunteer. Scott Neely is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, South Carolina. He serves as strategist for Speaking Down Barriers, an organization that uses art and facilitated dialogue to build our life together across differences that divide us. He has helped develop LGBTQ Theologies--a network of congregations supporting LGBTQ+ people and issues in Upstate South Carolina, and the Fund to Support Latinx Immigrants--a state-wide coalition providing direct assistance to immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, he has taught at the University of South Carolina-Upstate and Wofford College.

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