Spring Check-In for Healthcare Providers: Reclaiming Our Roots in the Season of Renewal
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As buds return to trees and light lingers longer in the sky, I love to think that nature offers us a gentle invitation: begin again.
But for many healthcare professionals — nurses, nutritionists, pharmacists, naturopathic doctors, and public health staff — beginning again feels harder than it should. Beneath the surface of spring’s hopeful energy lies a more complex truth: we are emerging from a prolonged season of overextension and collective trauma.
If that resonates with you, you’re not alone.
And you’re certainly NOT imagining it.
Burnout by the Numbers — and the Lived Experience Behind Them
According to a 2024 Canadian study published in BMC Public Health, an overwhelming 78.7% of public health workers met the criteria for burnout. More than 85% reported exhaustion, while 49.1% had experienced harassment or threats in the course of their work during the pandemic.
The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Thriving Health Workforce echoes these findings, revealing that across disciplines — from ICU nurses to public health inspectors to allied health staff — burnout, moral injury, and deep emotional fatigue have become the norm rather than the exception.
What’s the impact you ask?
Reduced job satisfaction. Strained relationships. Disengagement from patients. And the quiet erosion of the personal passion that likely brought you to this profession in the first place.
This Isn’t Just Stress. It’s Systemic.
We often think of burnout as a personal failing — something to overcome with resilience or better self-care. But both reports emphasize a critical truth: burnout is not just about overwork. It’s about the conditions under which we work.
"Burnout is a distinct workplace phenomenon that primarily calls for systems-oriented, organizational-level solutions.”
– U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory (2022)
These conditions include:
- Chronic understaffing
- Redeployment without training
- Increased administrative burden
- Workplace violence, racism, and harassment
- Lack of recovery time and psychological support
Maybe you’re reading this from Ontario, where the provincial government once promised to end hallway medicine — only for ERs to now face some of the longest wait times in the country.
Maybe you’re in British Columbia, navigating a patchwork of coverage that has left many naturopathic doctors or pharmacists scrambling to support patients who can’t access timely care through the system.
Or perhaps you’re in Nova Scotia, where ambitious plans to centralize and digitize care were meant to improve outcomes — but the human cost of overburdened staff and recruitment gaps continues to climb.
In every corner of the country, the people doing the healing are being stretched beyond what’s humane.
So, if you feel exhausted, detached, or disheartened — it’s not a flaw. It’s a flag.
Spring as a Symbol of Soft Recovery
So, what do we do when our systems are slow to change — but our health can't afford to wait?
Spring is often associated with the liver in traditional medicine — I know for myself, I’m currently focusing on my passions outside of clinic and taking full advantage of the Spring thaw opening up some of my favourite trail options. I’m also trying to ask myself some tough questions to help me define my boundaries and barriers.
- Where am I holding tension in my body?
- What have I been ignoring emotionally to meet deadlines?
- What do I need more (or LESS) of this season?
Time to honour your own needs and write your SELF a prescription.
References:
• Singh, Japteg, et al. "Burnout among public health workers in Canada: a cross-sectional study." BMC Public Health 24.1 (2024): 48.
• Office of the Surgeon General. "Addressing Health Worker Burnout: The US Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Thriving Health Workforce [Internet]." (2022).