Leadership – Clinician Well-Being Knowledge Hub

A Call to Action: Improving Clinician Well-Being and Patient Care and Safety

NAM — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 13:18:44 +0000

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio collaborated with The Ohio State University College of Nursing Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare to create A Call to Action: Improving Clinician Well-Being and Patient Care and Safety. The Call to Action outlines the bi-directional relationship between clinician well-being and patient care, calls attention to the health problems clinicians face related to burnout, and highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts. As part of this approach, state policymakers and healthcare leaders have an important role in implementing evidence-informed policies and practices such as advancing positive organizational culture, promoting wellness programs, reducing stigma toward seeking mental health treatment, increasing access to mental health services, and monitoring the data on student and clinician wellness.

Improving Environments for Learning in the Health Professions

NAM — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 16:24:59 +0000

This publication from the Macy Foundation provides a comprehensive set of recommendations aimed to improve the clinical learning environment. It contains a list of resources such as commissioned papers and case studies distributed at a conference about discussing major interventions in the field. The Foundation assembled leaders from health professions education, health professions learners, and representatives from accrediting bodies to identify interventions designed to improve health profession’s learning environments and offer a vision for a high functioning learning environment.

Health Care Leaders must put Physician Well-Being at Top of Agenda

NAM — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 20:25:39 +0000

The following article highlights Tait Shanafelt, MD, the first chief physician wellness officer at an academic medical center. He suggests addressing three domains to reduce burnout and promote professional fulfillment: personal resilience, efficiency of practice and a culture of well-being. Previous efforts to address wellness have just skimmed the surface and focused on individual tactics including mindfulness of yoga. However, a true culture of wellness stems from organizational and systematic factors, such as leadership and peer support.

2 Remedies for Reducing Burnout Among Healthcare Workers

NAM — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 20:22:13 +0000

Burnout can undermine not only employee well-being, but also patient outcomes, safety and quality of care. Gallup, in partnership with Sharecare, has developed a well-being model that considers the ways employees relate to their jobs and, in turn, perform at work. Well-being is defined as 5 interrelated elements: purpose, social, financial, community and physical. Analytics show that when employees are thriving in at least four of these elements, they are four times less likely to feel burnout at work. Healthcare leaders must effectively infuse well-being in their organizational beliefs, behaviors and systems, and meet their employee’s needs through setting clear expectations and collecting engagement data.

The Charter on Professionalism for Health Care Organizations

NAM — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 20:58:03 +0000

In response to physician feedback from the 2002 Physician Charter on Medical Professionalism, a multi-stakeholder group has developed a Charter on Professionalism for Health Care Organizations, which provides more guidance given the current structure of health care delivery systems. This article in Academic Medicine contains the charter as well as its development processes, rationale, potential obstacles for implementation, and avenues for dissemination. Four domains are the foci of the Charter: patient partnerships, organizational culture, community partnerships, and operations and business practices. Impacting social determinants of health will require collaboration among health care organizations, government, and communities. While the Charter is aspirational, it also outlines specific institutional behaviors benefiting both patients and workers.

Interns’ Participation and Learning in Clinical Environments in a New Zealand Hospital

NAM — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 20:54:47 +0000

Published in Academic Medicine, the following study explores factors encouraging interns to participate actively within clinical rotations. The findings resulted in a model for participation in clinical settings where two critical components were identified: the tasks of patient care and engagement with the clinical team. These two components are further divided into two aspects: initiation and maintenance. The outcome of all four factors working well is a reinforcing cycle of activities that promote and encourage effective participation and learning. The authors posit that this model could provide a framework for faculty development and thereby allow both supervisors and learners to gain confidence and satisfaction.

Physician-Organization Collaboration Reduces Physician Burnout and Promotes Engagement: The Mayo Clinic Experience

NAM — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 15:50:41 +0000

To flourish, physicians need some degree of choice (control over their lives), camaraderie (social connectedness), and an opportunity for excellence (being part of something meaningful). Organizations can provide these opportunities by establishing constructive organization-physician relationships and developing physician leaders.The following case study from Mayo Clinic supports foundational principles of a physician-engagement model. By developing the Listen-Act-Develop model, Mayo Clinic aims to reduce burnout and engage physicians in the organization’s mission, thereby improve organizational effectiveness.

Improving Professional Satisfaction and Effectiveness: A Case Study

NAM — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 14:25:50 +0000

The following case study is a composite of a number of Baird K. Brightman’s, PhD, consulting experiences in healthcare management situations. It reflects the distressing condition of deteriorating team-based collaboration in today’s healthcare environment. The author provides a review of systems and some suggestions for next steps.

Shell-shocked. Looking Out for the Well-Being of Physicians–Particularly in this Malpractice Environment–is the Mark of a Professional Medical Practice Manager

NAM — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 19:36:20 +0000

The following discusses the unwritten role of the practice administrator in supporting the doctor during malpractice lawsuits. To effectively run an organization, the article argues for the necessity of support in work environment and encouragement of open discussion about malpractice long before lawsuits occur.

Resilience, Respite and General Practice: Taking a Mindful Approach to Culture Change

NAM — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 18:34:54 +0000

Published in Family Practice, the following article reviews burnout and turnover among physicians through the scope of supply-and-demand. Individual strategies like mindfulness and stressors in the work environment are discussed. Brewster highlights programmatic interventions at medical schools to promote workforce retention.