An Organizational Leadership Development Approach to Support Health Worker Mental Health

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burden M ; Dyrbye LN ; Schwatka, Natalie V.
• Description:
  Coming at a time when burnout rates were already high, the COVID-19 pandemic physically and mentally further stressed our nation's health care workforce, leading to record levels of burnout, moral distress, and moral injury. In response, Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy released an advisory on building a thriving health workforce in 2022 with the specific aim of targeting health worker burnout to improve health and well-being and strengthen the nation's public health infrastructure. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said, "We owe all health workers-from doctors to hospital custodial staff-an enormous debt. And as we can clearly see and hear throughout this Surgeon General's Advisory, they're telling us what our gratitude needs to look like: real support and systemic change that allows them to continue serving to the best of their abilities." Even before the pandemic, the 2019 National Academy of Medicine's Consensus Study Report on clinician burnout indicated that the US health care system was changing in ways that profoundly affected the way health care was delivered. These changes have resulted in mounting workplace stress, contributing to a greater rate of burnout among physicians than the general working population. Health worker burnout has serious consequences for patients, including increased risk for medical errors and lower-quality care for patients, in particular those with diverse backgrounds. It also has serious consequences for health care organizations. Burnout is associated with high turnover rates, absenteeism, and professionalism issues. These impacts can ultimately harm patients and result in increased health care costs. However, health care systems have struggled to effectively address health worker burnout, often utilizing low-yield tactics because of the perceived cost of system-level changes and the glorification of organizational "profits." Research, however, increasingly shows that there are major institutional costs to not appropriately addressing the health worker crisis. Investing in organizational leaders and leadership practices may be one strategy to facilitate organizational change. Multiple National Academy of Medicine reports on clinician burnout highlight leadership as a key system-level factor that influences health worker burnout and well-being. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with thousands of health workers demonstrate that the leadership behaviors of immediate supervisors are associated with well-being, safety climate, teamwork climate, burnout, job satisfaction, and intent to leave. This suggests that leadership development is a possible primary prevention approach to mitigate health worker stress and optimize work environments. For this strategy to be successful, there needs to be senior leadership engagement, support, and resource allocation. If leaders are not empowered, trained, and supported, it is unlikely that any of these recommendations will be realized. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Health Personnel Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Public Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  COVID-19 Health Care Workers Job Stress Mental Health Public Health Safety Climate Wellbeing Work Organization
• ISSN:
  0090-0036
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  114
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069410
• Citation:
  Am J Public Health 2024 Feb; 114(S2):S142-S147
• Contact Point Address:
  Natalie V. Schwatka, PhD, MS, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, 13001 E 17th Pl, Mail Stop B119 HSC, Aurora, CO 80045
• Email:
  natalie.schwatka@cuanschutz.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services ; Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Colorado, Denver
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20190701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Public Health
• End Date:
  20220630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6c581f8eafd1ae04052ce5698c649ab590099cdcc5454381d1eccacce866287220212feaaad9a1367249c87f88637af9282fedc4c299bef48e1741695f73486d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207890/cdc_207890_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 627.00 KB ]