Peer Reviewed Content
Successful Organizational Strategies for Clinician Burnout Roberta E. Funck, MHS, PA-C Northern Arizona Healthcare, Cottonwood, AZ
ABSTRACT Objective: Clinician burnout is a public health crisis that demands immediate attention and intervention. This article reviews the organizational strategies of two established well-being programs shown to reduce clinician burnout and increase professional engagement. Method: A search of PubMed and the Cochrane Review databases revealed two articles on active clinician well-being programs (Mayo Clinic and Stanford Medicine). Fifteen documents supplied background information and supporting evidence. Results: Little research has been done on active evidence-based well-being programs or cost analyses for starting and supporting a viable clinician well-being program. Conclusion: Despite increasing awareness of the devastating consequences of clinician burnout, most health care systems lack a robust well-being program. Further research is necessary to estimate startup and maintenance costs, and the unique applications of burnout interventions in various health care settings. Keywords: Physician, burnout, well-being, organizational interventions, administration INTRODUCTION Clinician burnout is a public health crisis with devastating consequences.1,2 It is driven by rapid changes in health care and the work environment, and is widespread among clinicians.1 Health care organizations typically seen burnout as the practitioner’s problem; however, evidence shows that it is primarily a system issue.3 The purpose of this paper is to review two premier health care systems with highly developed, evidence-based wellness programs (Mayo Clinic4 and Stanford Medical Center5) and to highlight their successful strategies. METHOD PubMed and Cochrane Reviews databases were searched to capture articles on established organizational well-being programs. The inclusion requirements included articles published in the United States within the last five years, institution-based interventions, active well-being programs, and practicing clinicians. Articles excluded were those on a specific specialty only, medical students and residents, and individual-based interventions. The terms “physician assistant,” “nurse practitioner,” or “advanced practice provider” were not used because their
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Journal of the Association of PAs in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery