Project Summary:
Healthcare and public health worker burnout have reached epidemic levels in the United States, posing significant challenges to the well-being of this workforce and ultimately, to the sustained delivery of highly reliable, safe, and high-quality patient care. Addressing burnout requires a multifaceted and systems-based approach that addresses policy and organizational factors, workplace culture, and individual resilience. This project will support the design and implementation of a comprehensive program aimed at reducing burnout and promoting wellness among the healthcare and public health workforce in Wisconsin. Project partners will work together across the state to make Wisconsin the best place to work in our healthcare and public health sectors so that health workers can provide the highest quality care to our diverse populations.
There is an urgent need to simultaneously address the many challenges impacting public health and healthcare workforce in Wisconsin. Collaborators will work to ensure the environments that our healthcare workers and public health professionals work within are less burdensome, globally supportive, and attentive to their needs. This will ultimately enhance Wisconsin's workforce’s ability to provide more efficient and effective care to the diverse patients of Wisconsin. The project's participants will also work to ensure that when this workforce is burned out and in need of wellness assistance, they have the necessary awareness of available recourses, system support, and appropriate conditions to allow them to adequately obtain it.
Collaborators will develop a comprehensive approach to identifying the causes of burnout within Wisconsin's healthcare community. They will raise awareness of the multitude of issues facing our healthcare workforces and reduce the stigma around obtaining mental health care when it is needed.
Partners will identify policy changes and reforms that are required in Wisconsin at the state, local, and institutional levels to help support solutions for our healthcare and public health workforce wellness needs. Ultimately, these reforms must assist organizations in prioritizing and addressing the mental health and psychosocial well-being of our healthcare professionals that disproportionately disadvantage them in the important work they do for our diverse communities.
There is an opportunity to have significant impact across the state of Wisconsin through:
- Reduction in burnout rates among healthcare professionals and care team members, leading to improved job satisfaction, enhanced institutional engagement, retention, and morale.
- Enhanced quality and safety of patient care delivery through a more supported, resilient, and engaged workforce that is healthier in every sense of the word.
- Improved patient satisfaction with Wisconsin's health systems and their processes for care provision, attributed to the enhanced support for the state's healthcare and public health workforce.
- Long-term sustainability of these wellness efforts through the establishment of supportive, inclusive, and psychologically safe work cultures, as well as prioritized organizational wellness policies, processes and practices.
- Positive ripple effects throughout the healthcare system, leading ultimately to reduced healthcare costs, enhanced healthcare value, improved population health outcomes, and a more resilient and sustainable health workforce.
This planning and implementation project will offer a holistic and multifaceted approach to addressing burnout and promoting healthcare and public health workforce wellness. By investing in organizational interventions, wellness policy promotion, peer support program development, and work-life balance and resilience initiatives, project partners aim to create healthier and more sustainable work environments for healthcare providers and public health workers, which will ultimately improve the quality, reliability, and safety of patient care. This project seeks to make a meaningful impact on the well-being of clinicians, care team members, public health workers, and health systems alike. The downstream implications and impact of this work will ultimately improve the health of the diverse communities of Wisconsin.