Posted by Corina Notyce, DCoE Public Affairs on April 16, 2013
With the latest mobile app from National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), health care providers can monitor their own mental health. “Provider Resilience” offers self-assessments that rate burnout risk, compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress, and delivers tools and tips on self-care.
I asked Dr. Julie Kinn, clinical psychologist and deputy director for the Mobile Health Program at T2, to tell me more about the app.
Q: What prompted the development of “Provider Resilience?”
A: T2 ran focus groups and surveyed providers to identify what they needed to cope with burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The feedback told us that providers know what to do; they just need to be reminded. So, we thought about how we could use mobile health technology to help providers remember to take care of themselves.
The app is nice because it does some thinking for you; it reminds you to take a break and helps you monitor for signs of trouble. Providers are incredibly resilient, but sometimes we can develop problems from the exposure to others’ trauma, and that’s what this app addresses.