Joint Opinion on Clinician Well-Being: Addressing Global Needs

Authors:
Mehta LS, Elkind MS, Achenbach S, Pinto FJ, Poppas A.
Citation:
Clinician Well-Being: Addressing Global Needs for Improvements in the Health Care Field. A Joint Opinion From the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, European Society of Cardiology, and the World Heart Federation. J Am Coll Cardiol 2021;Jul 13:[Epub ahead of print].

The following are key points to remember about a Joint Opinion from the American College of Cardiology (ACC), American Heart Association (AHA), European Society of Cardiology (ESC), and the World Heart Federation on clinician well-being: addressing global needs for improvements in the health care field:

  1. Clinician well-being is described as experiencing satisfaction and engagement with work, while also having a feeling of professional fulfillment and a sense of meaning in work.
  2. Clinician well-being is an essential component of the quadruple aim: to improve population health, enhance patient experience, reduce costs, and improve the work life of health care workers.
  3. Burnout, an occupational phenomenon, is defined as emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of low personal accomplishment in a perceived stressful work environment.
  4. It is imperative for health care organizations to support the psychosocial health of their employees and be accountable for a holistic approach.
  5. One such method is the Stanford WellMD Professional Fulfillment Model, which incorporates culture of wellness, practice efficiency, and personal resiliency domains, while also taking into account the intrinsic (e.g., recognition, trust, meaning in work) and extrinsic (e.g., call schedule, compensation, technology) driving factors that can be modified.
  6. In addition, health care organizations need to provide employees with a structure to allow for confidential reporting of mistreatment and also to destigmatize clinicians’ access to mental health resources.
  7. Regular assessment of clinician burnout is essential to understand the effectiveness of implemented strategic pilot projects. Similar to the concepts of prevention of cardiovascular disease, secondary prevention is achieved with targeted approaches to prevent recurrent burnout; however, investment in primary and primordial prevention is equally crucial to reduce or potentially avoid burnout all together.
  8. The ACC, AHA, ESC, and World Heart Federation acknowledge that clinician well-being is paramount to providing high-quality patient care and are committed to improving the well-being of the cardiovascular workforce.
  9. Medical specialty societies will need to continue to identify and promote for the reduction of administrative complexities and practice inefficiencies, which are burdensome and hinder professional fulfillment and patient care.
  10. Furthermore, assisting in combatting the stigma of mental health conditions and the negative ramifications by licensing boards of a history of treated medical health conditions are crucial endeavors for medical specialty societies.

Clinical Topics: Prevention, Stress

Keywords: Burnout, Professional, Delivery of Health Care, Health Care Costs, Health Occupations, Health Workforce, Health Personnel, Health Resources, Mental Health, Patient Care, Personal Satisfaction, Pilot Projects, Primary Prevention, Quality Improvement, Secondary Prevention, Stress, Psychological, Technology, Workplace


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