Burnout
The resurgence of COVID-19 has left health care leaders with one eye focused on recovery and financial viability and the other on the resiliency of front-line caregivers, many of whom have lasting effects from what they experienced during the initial waves of COVID-19.
More hospitals are implementing policies and programs to address the mental and emotional wellbeing of staff members, writes American Organization for Nursing Leadership board member Anne Schmidt, chief nursing officer at Novant Health UVA Health System鈥檚 Prince William Medical Center and Haymarket鈥
In 2019, the term 鈥渂urnout鈥 was added to the World Health Organization鈥檚 International Classification of Diseases (ICD). According to the ICD, burnout is a 鈥渟yndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.鈥
We know that prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, demand for health care workers and health care job openings were at record highs. We also know that the pandemic created pressure to quickly ramp up staffing levels and optimize surge capacity, even as the cancellation of non-emergent surgeries caused鈥
Burnout is a significant challenge for health care organizations, especially in rural hospitals that struggle with recruiting new clinicians.
Statistics on physician suicide and burnout served as the impetus for ChristianaCare in Newark, Del., to create the Center for WorkLife Wellbeing, which builds support systems to enable physicians to reconnect with the joy and meaning in medicine. The Center鈥檚 work is not just about minimizing鈥
Carrie Saia, CEO of Holton (Kan.) Community Hospital, and Erin Locke, a physician at the hospital, recently participated in AHA鈥檚 Physician Leadership Experience and shared their thoughts on why this unique opportunity so profoundly affects providers.
The AHA Physician Alliance regularly convenes senior physician executives for high-level conversations on the issues keeping them up at night. AHA Chief Medical Officer Jay Bhatt, D.O., and AHA Physician Alliance Vice President Elisa Arespacochaga share highlights from 2019. Read more
The National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience yesterday hosted a meeting to identify opportunities to advance clinician well-being based on consensus recommendations released by NAM in October.
Between one-third and one-half of U.S. clinicians experience burnout and addressing the epidemic requires systemic changes by health care organizations, educational institutions and all levels of government.