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Competing spheres of work/life balance in palliative care.

The long established zeitgeist for palliative care still prevails and continually drives what we do in practice. The bottom line is to provide the best available care to enhance patients’ quality of life and their families’ experience at the end of life. This philosophy is deeply held and practiced to make the inevitable advent of death bearable, and life after death for the family emotionally manageable. To achieve these outcomes, community nurses and other health professionals engage in genuine caring which, among other things, involves encountering the intensity of patients’ emotional and psychological needs. It also involves supporting patients to live with the ‘enemy’ (Owen, 2014) that is threatening their existence. Support is also extended to the family and those deemed important to the patient. One could surmise that it is because of these demands that the idea of having a work/life balance is believed to be important and helps to relieve stress or emotional pressure on health professionals. While the idea of a work/life balance is welcome, the reality of achieving it poses serious questions. For example, most of our time awake is spent at work, which already suggests an imbalance in our work and personal life. On a practical level, we have workplaces and homes, and this physical separation might help us to distinguish between the two spheres. However, for those whose jobs allow them to work from home, they still end up going to the office (to confirm this work/life split), but in some cases, may not have any option but to adhere to dictates from the institution. This is despite evidence highlighting the clear benefits that when we work from home we pollute the environment less, are more effective, and end up working more hours. Some people who work from home create a study room, which acts as their work environment in the home; they leave their work there once they are done for the day, as a way of creating a work/life split. Indeed, working from home requires added discipline to avoid the blurring of boundaries and to remain focused on the job at hand.