Dr. Vivek Murthy, the American surgeon general, recently issued advice regarding the current burnout crisis of health workers, which led to a significant number of resignations and a shortage of staff. The advisory website contains various resources, including an analysis of the causes, as well as recommended mitigation measures that health professionals and other employers could apply to reduce worker burnout. Below are key recommendations that can serve as a useful starting point for health care providers and others to formulate a strategy to mitigate burnout in health care.
Even before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Academy of Medicine found that in 2019, burnout reached a “crisis” level with more than half of health workers (including nurses, doctors, wards and medical students) suffering from burnout. These numbers only increased when the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll, seriously affecting the mental health of such health workers (e.g., the CDC reported that more than 50% of public health workers exhibited burnout-related mental health symptoms). These mental health conditions have negatively affected the provision of health care due to labor shortages and deficiencies in primary care, as well as limited access to health care.
The Council of General Surgeons for Resolving the Burning of Healthcare Workers makes the following recommendations for healthcare providers to address the burnout crisis:
- Transform the workplace culture to empower health professionals and be accountable to their voices and needs.
- This measure would involve formal engagement with health professionals to better understand their challenges and concerns and actively work with such workers to improve processes, procedures and culture.
- Eliminate criminal policies for seeking care for mental health and substance use disorders.
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- This measure would help eliminate the stigma associated with such conditions / disorders by encouraging workers to seek counseling and other treatment for such conditions / disorders (and making such treatment and counseling easier).
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- Protect the health, safety and well-being of all health professionals.
- This measure may include various measures of workers’ well-being such as increased wages, improved paid sick leave / family leave, childcare allowances, formal workload assessments, financial counseling / support, increased staff shortage capacity, protective equipment, verbal / physical workplace avoidance of abuse, etc.
- Reduce administrative burdens to help healthcare professionals have productive time with patients, communities and colleagues.
- This measure could include a reduction in accountability for administrative tasks compared to direct responsibility for patient care, as well as an increased focus on building relationships between work colleagues and the wider community.
- Give priority to social cohesion and community as a core value of the health system.
- This measure would require formal measures to prioritize team approaches to care and improve cooperation among colleagues to avoid feelings of isolation.
- Invest in public health and our public health workforce.
- This measure could include various initiatives such as clinical-community partnerships, disease surveillance systems, health projects / educational projects, community health needs and disparity assessments, etc.
Overall, tackling the health care burnout crisis will not happen overnight, but will require a multifaceted approach by the entire healthcare industry to improve working conditions, patient care / engagement and cooperation between different industry groups.