In 2016, Rachel Hutchins developed chronic pain from an underlying musculoskeletal condition and injury. For years, she met with healthcare professionals across the country in an effort to address the pain.
When Hutchins expressed her gratitude to the healthcare professionals who went above and beyond in her journey to pain-free living, she noticed something interesting.
“I can clearly remember the moment I brought in flowers and a card to three different healthcare professionals and observed significant positive changes in their mood as well as their gratefulness at receiving thanks,” Hutchins said. “One of my healthcare professionals called me at the end of the day to tell me how much she appreciated my actions.”
The response prompted Hutchins to wonder what the impact might be if more patients took the time to express gratitude to healthcare professionals. That interaction spurred an interest in positive psychology which eventually led Hutchins to the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at PCOM.
“From the beginning of the program, I knew I wanted my capstone project to focus on increasing patient-expressed gratitude to healthcare professionals to better support their well-being,” Hutchins said.
Now, Hutchins is preparing to launch and explore how words of gratitude can affect clinician well-being. Clinician burnout has been a notable problem on the rise for more than two decades. Hutchins ultimately hopes to learn whether gratitude in the form of appreciation can reduce or prevent burnout by increasing well-being.
“When I began researching this topic for my capstone project, I discovered that healthcare professionals are subject to burnout and poor well-being which is linked to poor patient safety outcomes,” she explained.
Words of gratitude, she added, can be experienced as a meaningful type of recognition that boosts self-esteem for healthcare professionals.
“Some healthcare professionals keep expressions of gratitude such as thank you cards from patients and their families and use these reminders to motivate themselves when times are challenging,” Hutchins said.
During her research, Hutchins also learned that people may be less likely to express gratitude because of egocentric bias.
“Expressers of gratitude tend to underestimate the receiver’s feelings of surprise, overestimate the receiver’s feelings of awkwardness, and underestimate the positive feelings the receiver experiences after receiving gratitude,” Hutchins explained.
As part of her project, Hutchins is asking patients at PCOM Healthcare Centers to write a message of appreciation to a healthcare provider for whom the patient is grateful. The feedback will be shared with the provider and the impact on their well-being assessed through pre- and post-project surveys.
“My hope is that this project will inspire similar gratitude expression opportunities for patients in healthcare systems across the country,” she said.
Patients of PCOM Healthcare Center providers may participate in the project until May 1, 2024 by sharing clinician feedback online.
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