Prof. Justin Denholm1
1Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, 2Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been highly disruptive in many work environments, particularly those related to direct provision of healthcare. Significant organisational change has been required at many levels, with attendant risks of both impaired service delivery and psychological impact on staff. Relational organisational Gestalt (ROG) is an approach that emphasises interpersonal connection about shared reality, which can be used in a variety of ways to support organisational change.
Methods: We established a community of practice in an acute hospital setting using ROG approaches during a COVID-19 pandemic wave. This group primarily consisted of senior medical staff redeployed to COVID-19 ward duties, who met daily for facilitated sessions centred around inpatient activities.
Results: Emerging group practices and outputs are described, including adjustments to group processes in response to situational need. A ROG approach was perceived as both effective in supporting rapid change in practice, and for providing psychological support for staff members.
Conclusions: ROG can be a useful and adaptive model for supporting staff and systems through times of change. Further exploration and evaluation of this approach in a variety of healthcare environments and applications will be valuable.
Biography:
Professor Justin Denholm is an infectious diseases physician based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. He has a special interest in strategies towards elimination of tuberculosis and other infections, and using multidisciplinary and participatory research to improve health services. Justin also has training in ethics and public health, and is current Chair of the Ethics Advisory Group of the International Union against TB and Lung Disease.