Clinician well-being is essential for safe, high-quality patient care.
However, clinicians of all kinds, across all specialties and care settings, are experiencing alarming rates of 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. Clinician burnout can have serious, wide-ranging consequences on individual clinicians and learners, health care organizations, and patient care.
On the other hand, clinician well-being supports improved patient-clinician relationships, a high-functioning care team, and an engaged and effective workforce. Supporting clinician well-being requires sustained attention and action at organizational, state, and national levels, as well as investment in research and information-sharing to advance evidence-based solutions.
In the face of the unprecedented challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation must acknowledge the toll of the crisis on the well-being of clinicians. Health workers need support as they navigate the long-term effects of COVID-19.
We must take collective action to achieve health workforce well-being at this critical juncture for the U.S. health system. The National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being provides guidance and next steps to work with leaders in health care and public health, educational institutions for health professional, policymakers, health IT companies, payers, regulators, associations, and others involved to cultivate a health system to support care providers and optimize their well-being. Read the National Plan >>
About the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative
In 2017, the National Academy of Medicine launched the Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience, a network of more than 200 organizations committed to reversing trends in clinician burnout. The Clinician Well-Being Collaborative has three goals:
- Raise the visibility of clinician anxiety, burnout, depression, stress, and suicide
- Improve baseline understanding of challenges to clinician well-being
- Advance evidence-based, multidisciplinary solutions to improve patient care by caring for the caregiver
The Clinician Well-Being Collaborative is proud to have contributed to the movement to address burnout by publishing a National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being in October 2022. The Clinician Well-Being Collaborative will continue to identify evidence-based strategies to improve clinician well-being at both the individual and systems levels, including through convening, publishing, and shaping the national conversation.
Questions? Contact us at ClinicianWellBeing@nas.edu. Download Collaborative two-pager to share >>
Quick Links
Collaborative Leadership
Victor Dzau, Co-Chair
Darrell Kirch, Co-Chair
Vivek Murthy, Co-Chair
Thomas Nasca, Co-Chair
Staff
Anh Tran, Director
Farida Ahmed, Associate Program Officer
Catherine Colgan, Research Assistant
Kimber Bogard, Deputy Executive Officer, Programs
Samantha Phillips, Communications Officer
Recent Announcement from the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative
NAM Launches Next Phase of Clinician Well-Being Collaborative Focused on Implementation of National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being
The NAM is pleased to announce the next phase of the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative. During this period, the Collaborative will lead a new campaign to execute the National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being across the U.S. to better support health workers and their patients. We look forward to offering opportunities for all who are impacted by this issue to become involved to address the ongoing national clinician burnout crisis.
Resources from the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative
