Project description:Purpose of review:Symptoms of burnout affect approximately half of pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists at any given time, with similarly concerning prevalence of other aspects of physician distress, including fatigue, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. Physician well-being affects quality of care, patient satisfaction, and physician turnover. Organizational factors influence well-being, stressing the need for organizations to address this epidemic. Recent findings:Organizational characteristics, policies, and culture influence physician well-being, and specific strategies may support an environment where physicians thrive. We highlight four organizational opportunities to improve physician well-being: developing leaders, cultivating community and organizational culture, improving practice efficiency, and optimizing administrative policies. Leaders play a key role in aligning organizational and individual values, promoting professional fulfillment, and fostering a culture of collegiality and social support among physicians. Reducing documentation burden and improving practice efficiency may help balance job demands and resources. Finally, reforming administrative policies may reduce work-home conflict, support physician's efforts to attend to their own well-being, and normalize use of supportive resources. Summary:Physician well-being is critical to organizational success, sustainment of an adequate workforce, and optimal patient outcomes. Because burnout is primarily influenced by organizational factors, organizational interventions are key to promoting well-being. Developing supportive leadership, fostering a culture of wellness, optimizing practice efficiency, and improving administrative policies are worthy of organizational action and further research.
Project description:Policymakers and business leaders often use peer comparison information-showing people how their behavior compares to that of their peers-to motivate a range of behaviors. Despite their widespread use, the potential impact of peer comparison interventions on recipients' well-being is largely unknown. We conducted a 5-mo field experiment involving 199 primary care physicians and 46,631 patients to examine the impact of a peer comparison intervention on physicians' job performance, job satisfaction, and burnout. We varied whether physicians received information about their preventive care performance compared to that of other physicians in the same health system. Our analyses reveal that our implementation of peer comparison did not significantly improve physicians' preventive care performance, but it did significantly decrease job satisfaction and increase burnout, with the effect on job satisfaction persisting for at least 4 mo after the intervention had been discontinued. Quantitative and qualitative evidence on the mechanisms underlying these unanticipated negative effects suggest that the intervention inadvertently signaled a lack of support from leadership. Consistent with this account, providing leaders with training on how to support physicians mitigated the negative effects on well-being. Our research uncovers a critical potential downside of peer comparison interventions, highlights the importance of evaluating the psychological costs of behavioral interventions, and points to how a complementary intervention-leadership support training-can mitigate these costs.
Project description:ObjectiveTo measure well-being at a community level using a valid instrument.Patients and methodsWritten surveys were mailed to a random sample of residents in Olmsted County, Minnesota, in 2015 and 2019 including the 5-item World Health Organization Well-being Index (0-100; for which 100 is the best imaginable well-being or quality of life). Multivariable hierarchical regression was used to evaluate the association between well-being and demographic characteristics, comorbid conditions, and environmental factors.ResultsThe survey was returned by 1232 of 4000 individuals (response rate, 30.80%). The average well-being score was 70.02. Impaired well-being was identified in 223/1187 individuals (18.79%). Adjusted regression models showed that impaired well-being was independently associated with household poverty, financial stress, reduced access to medical or mental health care, ever having depression diagnosed, living in an unsafe community, or being socially isolated.ConclusionOne in 5 people in a county in the US Midwest have impaired well-being. Well-being was associated with several modifiable factors. Data provide a rationale for policies that align transportation and housing and create opportunities for community members to connect and interact in a safe environment.
Project description:Part One of this two-article series reviews assessment tools to measure burnout and other negative states. Physician well-being goes beyond merely the absence of burnout. Transient episodes of burnout are to be expected. Measuring burnout alone is shortsighted. Well-being includes being challenged, thriving, and achieving success in various aspects of personal and professional life. In this second part of the series, we identify and describe assessment tools related to wellness, quality of life, resilience, coping skills, and other positive states.
Project description:PurposeFamily physicians rapidly shifted to using virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet it is largely unknown if this change has impacted their workplace motivation. A better understanding of this matter is essential for optimizing the integration of virtual care into standard practice and for supporting family physician well-being. Using a self-determination theory lens, we examined if family physicians experienced autonomous (vs controlled) motivation toward using virtual care, how this related to their subjective well-being, and whether satisfaction (vs frustration) of their basic psychological needs at work mediated that relationship.MethodsUsing cross-sectional survey methodology, quantitative data was collected from 156 family physicians in Alberta, Canada. The questionnaire contained validated scales for measuring motivational quality, workplace need fulfillment, and subjective well-being. Descriptive, correlational, and mediation analyses were performed.ResultsFamily physicians varied significantly in their quality of motivation towards using virtual care. Controlled motivation toward using virtual care was associated with lower well-being, and workplace need frustration fully mediated that relationship. Conversely, workplace need satisfaction, but not autonomous motivation toward using virtual care, was associated with higher well-being.ConclusionsIn line with self-determination theory, findings suggest that when family physicians' motivation toward using virtual care is less self-determined, it will lead to poorer subjective well-being, because of basic psychological need frustration. Potential implications of the findings are discussed within the contexts of virtual health and primary care.
Project description:Since the creation of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) in 1964 and AmeriCorps in 1993, a stated goal of national service programs has been to strengthen the overall health of communities across the United States. But whether national service programs have such community effects remains an open question. Using longitudinal cross-lagged panel and change-score models from 2005 to 2013, this study explores whether communities with national service programs exhibit greater subjective well-being. We use novel measures of subjective well-being derived from tweeted expressions of emotions, engagement, and relationships in 1,347 U.S. counties. Results show that national service programs improve subjective well-being primarily by mitigating threats to well-being and communities that exhibit more engagement are better able to attract national service programs. Although limited in size, these persistent effects are robust to multiple threats to inference and provide important new evidence on how national service improves communities in the United States.
Project description:BACKGROUND: Resident well-being impacts competence, professionalism, career satisfaction, and the quality of care delivered to patients. OBJECTIVE: We established normative scores and reported evidence of relationship between the Physician Well-Being Index (PWBI) score to other variables and consequence validity for the PWBI in a national sample of residents, and evaluated the performance of the index after substituting the original fatigue item with an item not associated with driving a car. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey study of a national sample of 20 475 residents. The survey included the PWBI, instruments assessing mental quality of life (QOL) and fatigue, and items on recent suicidal ideation and medical error. Fisher exact test or Wilcoxon/2-sample t test procedures were used with a 5% type I error rate and a 2-sided alternative. RESULTS: Of 7560 residents who opened the e-mail to participate in the study, 1701 (22.5%) completed the survey. Residents with low mental QOL, high fatigue, or recent suicidal ideation were more likely to endorse each of the PWBI items and a greater number of total items (all P < .001). At a threshold score of ≥ 5, the PWBI's specificity for identifying residents with low mental QOL, high fatigue, or recent suicidal ideation was 83.6%. PWBI score also stratified residents' self-reported medical errors. The PWBI performed similarly using either fatigue item. CONCLUSIONS: The 7-item PWBI appears to be a useful screening index to identify residents whose degree of distress may negatively impact the quality of care they deliver.
Project description:BackgroundThe workplace is an important setting for health protection, health promotion, and disease prevention programs. In the school setting, employee health and well-being programs can address many physical and emotional concerns of school staff. This systematic review summarizes evidence-based approaches from employee health and well-being interventions supporting nutrition and physical activity (PA) in a variety of workplace settings.MethodsThe 2-phase systematic review included a search for articles within systematic reviews that met our criteria (addressing employee health and well-being programs; published 2010-2018; Phase 1) and the identification of individual articles from additional searches (addressing school-based employee interventions; published 2010-2020; Phase 2). We included 35 articles.FindingsAcross all studies and types of interventions and workplace settings, findings were mixed; however, multicomponent interventions appeared to improve health behaviors and health outcomes among employees.Implications for school health policy, practice, and equitySchools can apply this evidence from employee health and well-being programs in various workplace settings to implement coordinated and comprehensive employee health and well-being programs.ConclusionsEmployee health and well-being programs may be effective at supporting nutrition and PA. Schools can use findings from employee health and well-being programs in workplaces other than schools to support school staff.
Project description:Physician well-being is a complex and multifactorial issue. A large number of tools have been developed in an attempt to measure the nature, severity, and impact of both burnout and well-being in a range of clinical populations. This two-article series provides a review of relevant tools and offers guidance to clinical mentors and researchers in choosing the appropriate instrument to suit their needs, whether assessing mentees or testing interventions in the research setting. Part One begins with a discussion of burnout and focuses on assessment tools to measure burnout and other negative states. Part Two of the series examines the assessment of well-being, coping skills, and other positive states.
Project description:BACKGROUND: Medical knowledge and clinical performance ratings are major criteria for assessing the competence of resident physicians. However, these assessments may be influenced by residents' mental health. The relationship between residents' well-being and empathy and assessments of their global performance remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether resident well-being and empathy are associated with assessments of their medical knowledge and clinical performance. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We studied 730 clinical performance assessments completed by peers, supervising residents, and allied health professionals; 193 mini-clinical evaluation exercise (mini-CEX) evaluations; and 260 in-training examinations (ITE) of Mayo Clinic internal medicine residents between January 2009 and August 2010. Multivariate generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate associations between residents' well-being and empathy and assessments of their knowledge and clinical performance. MEASUREMENTS: Independent variables were empathy using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), burnout using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, depression using a standardized two-question screening instrument, and quality of life using a Linear Analog Self-Assessment item and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-8). Dependent variables were mini-CEX, ITE, and the validated six-item Mayo clinical performance assessment. RESULTS: 202 residents (64.7%) provided both well-being and at least one category of assessment data. In multivariate models, residents' scores on the IRI empathy measure of "the tendency to adopt the psychological view of others" were associated with higher peer ratings on "desirability as a physician for a family member" (beta?=?0.023, 95% CI?=?0.007-0.039, p?=?0.004). Additionally, burnout was associated with higher supervisor ratings of communication (beta?=?0.309, 95% CI?=?0.100-0.517, p?=?0.004). There were no observed associations between ITE or mini-CEX scores and resident quality of life, burnout, fatigue, depression, or empathy. CONCLUSIONS: Most dimensions of resident well-being were not associated with residents' knowledge scores and assessments of their clinical performance by other members of the health care team, which supports the trustworthiness of these measures. Nonetheless, correlations of resident empathy and burnout with assessments completed by peers and supervising residents suggest that some ratings of residents may be influenced by interpersonal factors.