About
Clinicians of all kinds, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, medical trainees, and others are experiencing alarming rates of burnout. This poses a significant threat to the sustainability of our health system and the safety of our patients. Solutions to systematically combat burnout are needed and they are needed now.
What is Clinician Burnout?
Burnout is a syndrome characterized by a high degree of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (i.e. cynicism) and a low sense of personal accomplishment at work. Burnout is nearly twice as prevalent among physicians as compared to US workers in other fields and US nurses report similarly high levels of burnout and emotional exhaustion. Medical trainees also experience a high prevalence of burnout and depression as compared to rates of age-similar individuals pursuing other careers.
Clinician burnout can have serious, wide-ranging consequences, from reduced job performance to—in the most extreme cases—medical error and clinician suicide. The ramifications of clinician burnout also extend to patients in measureable ways. One study involving US surgeons found burnout to be an independent predictor of reporting a recent major medical error and average burnout levels among hospital nurses are independent predictors of health care-associated infection.
Combating clinician burnout requires sustained attention and action at the organizational, state, and national levels. Leadership is instrumental in improving the environments within which clinicians practice. Leaders in medicine around the country have a responsibility to build a culture that supports clinician well-being by developing and implementing programs that address the drivers of burnout and providing resources to promote resilience and self-care.
Factors Affecting Clinician Well-Being and Resilience
The Conceptual Model working group of the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience set out to create a model that could be used by individuals and organizations to understand the causes and effects of burnout, identify strategies to prevent and treat burnout and promote well-being, and improve health care delivery and patient outcomes. The model below depicts the domains and factors associated with burnout and well-being, and applies them across all health care professions and career stages, including that of the student, and clearly identifies the link between clinician well-being and outcomes for clinicians, patients, and the health system.
About the Knowledge Hub
This website is a product of the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience and is intended to provide an easy-to-navigate repository of helpful resources for those seeking information and guidance on how to combat clinician burnout in their organizations and in their personal lives. Please note that the resource center found within this site is a work in progress. Resources will be added on an ongoing basis.
About the Action Collaborative
The National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience is a network of more than 50 organizations committed to reversing trends in clinician burnout. Goals for the Action Collaborative include: (1) Improve baseline understanding of challenges to clinician well-being; (2) Raise the visibility of clinician stress and burnout; and (3) Elevate evidence-based, multidisciplinary solutions that will improve patient care by caring for the caregiver.
Learn more about the Action Collaborative
The Clinician Well-Being Knowledge Hub won an Award of Excellence from the 24th Annual Communicator Awards.
The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for marketing and communications professionals. Founded by passionate communications professionals over two decades ago, The Communicator Awards is an annual competition honoring the best digital, mobile, audio, video, and social content the industry has to offer. The Communicator Awards is widely recognized as one of the largest awards of its kind in the world
Resources from the Action Collaborative
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Call for Commitment Statements
To provide an opportunity to share plans of action to reverse clinician burnout, the National Academy of Medicine is collecting organizational commitment statements that describe goals for combating clinician burnout. By sharing their commitment to improving clinician well-being and reducing clinician burnout, these organizations are an active contributor to the National Academy of Medicine’s Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience.
The National Academy of Medicine welcomes additional statements describing organizational goals or commitments to improving clinician well-being and decreasing clinician burnout.
Network Organizations
If your organization has already undertaken or is committed to action to reverse clinician burnout and improve clinician well-being, we invite you to join our national movement as a Network Organization by submitting a formal organizational commitment statement. By becoming a Network Organization, you are joining a growing network of over 200 organizations that are committed to reversing trends in clinician burnout—a goal that is possible only through the collective action of many stakeholders. Network organizations agree to make a visible commitment to improving the well-being of clinicians. They are active contributors to the work of the Action Collaborative but are not formal sponsors.
Sponsors of the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience
The National Academy of Medicine is grateful to the current sponsors of the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience. View Sponsors >>
If you are suicidal and need emergency help, call 911 immediately or 1-800-273-8255.