Washington, DC (October 31, 2023) – The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced the launch of Impact well-being. This new campaign provides hospital leaders with evidence-based resources to improve workplace policies and practices that reduce burnout, normalize help-seeking, and strengthen professional well-being.
“Even before the pandemic, healthcare workers faced harsh working conditions that led to burnout. This includes long work hours, risks of hazardous exposures, stressful work, and high administrative burdens,” said John Howard, MD, director of NIOSH. “Hospital leaders need support to implement organizational changes. Practical adjustments can reduce burnout and strengthen professional well-being within their hospitals.
Impact well-being supports hospital leaders, and therefore their healthcare staff, by providing concrete steps to refine quality improvements, establish new workflows, and help staff feel safe when seeking help . To engage with operational-level solutions, practices and policies to achieve progressive and lasting impact, hospital leaders can access the following campaign resources:
- NIOSH Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (WellBQ): Understand how your staff is doing and identify ways to improve healthcare worker well-being.
- Leadership Storytelling Guide: Help hospital leaders speak publicly about the need to get help for their own mental health issues and encourage staff to do the same, using this guide from the Health Action Alliance.
- Total health of workers® Strategies: Train front-line supervisors to help their staff balance work and family responsibilities through supportive supervision.
Additionally, hospital leaders can eliminate one of the most significant systemic barriers to healthcare professional well-being: intrusive mental health questions on hospital accreditation applications.1, 2, 3 Auditing and modifying hospital accreditation application questions removes barriers to care and sends a clear message to healthcare workers that their hospital supports their well-being and mental health. The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation developed three simple steps hospital leaders can follow to enable their healthcare workers to seek treatment safely.
“Like everyone else, healthcare workers deserve the right to seek mental health care without fear of losing their jobs due to stigmatizing and discriminatory issues,” said J. Corey Feist, JD, MBA, co-founder and president by Dr Lorna Breen Heroes. ‘ Foundation. “My sister-in-law, Dr. Lorna Breen, experienced this obstacle herself, confiding to our family that she was afraid of being ostracized at work if she admitted she needed help. Shortly after, she committed suicide. Sadly, I have heard many families who have lost a loved one to suicide express the same concerns as Lorna.
For more than 50 years, NIOSH has provided workers and employers, including hospital leaders, with strategies and resources to create sustainable and safe workplaces. Impact well-being builds on these efforts and speaks directly to hospital leaders to address operational factors within hospitals that contribute to burnout.
“While some causes of burnout may take time to resolve, there are many actionable ways to advocate for a healthy workforce and hospital system,” said Casey Chosewood, MD, MPH, director of the Office of Total health of workers at NIOSH. “By identifying and implementing practical operational adjustments, hospital leaders can help healthcare workers continue to do what they do best: provide the highest quality patient care.” »
Explore Impact well-being resources at www.cdc.gov/impactwellbeing.
Impact well-being is made possible by the COVID-19 American Rescue Plan of 2021. It builds on the momentum provided by the passage of Dr. Lorna Breen’s Healthcare Provider Protection Act.
Created under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970, NIOSH is the federal research institute focused on the study of worker safety and health and empowering employers and workers to create safe and healthy workplaces. For more information about NIOSH, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/.
The references
- American Hospital Association [2022]. Suicide prevention. Washington, DC: American Hospital Association.
- The Doctors Foundation [2022]. 2022 American Physician Survey: Part Two of Three: Understanding Physician Well-Being and Evaluating Solutions to Address It. Boston, MA: Physicians Foundation.
- Weston MJ, Nordberg A. [2022]. Stigma: a barrier to nurses’ well-being during the pandemic. Charge Nurse 20(2):174-178
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