Enhancing clinical educator well-being.

Life as a clinical educator can be a double-edged sword. The privilege of working with patients and supporting the health professionals of the future, carries with it the responsibility to manage the, frequently conflicting, demands of both. Add to this the pressures of career development – interviews, professional exams – and the routine tribulations of adult life, and it’s clear to see that the personal resources of clinical educators can become easily depleted. These challenges are often further complicated by institutional and societal pressures e.g., overstretched health systems and a global trend for increased student numbers. It comes as no surprise then that we see a worrying prevalence of stress, burnout and mental health difficulties for those working in health care roles.[1,2] When we consider that educators likely role model coping skills as well as clinical skills for the next generation of health professionals, this leads to the question: how can those charged with facilitating both quality health care and education, nurture their own health and well-being? 2 Although it can be difficult to define, it has been proposed that stable well-being exists “when individuals have the psychological, social and physical resources they need to meet a particular psychological, social and/or physical challenge.”[3] In this article, we suggest several practical ways to improve staff well-being in clinical education settings, in this context of balancing supportive resources against challenges. We begin by exploring well-being from the perspective of the institution, and the role organisational leaders can play in effecting positive change. We will then highlight individual and team-level, evidence-based well-being strategies that can be used by practising clinical educators.