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Dentistry is a high-stress profession with elevated rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, suicidal thoughts and self-harm. Chronic workplace stress is a growing concern as it can severely damage the mental health of dental professionals and negatively impact their ability to provide appropriate care. Psychological interventions have been shown to greatly benefit the well-being and emotional resilience of the medical and healthcare community, yet resources that provide preventative tools are limited.

Resilience and Well-being for Dental Professionals, is designed not only to combat occupational hazards in Dentistry, such as burnout and compassion fatigue, but also to build resilience, engagement at work and nurture positive mental health through a variety of evidence-based tools. This invaluable guide helps readers utilise tools from the science of well-being (Positive Psychology, Mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), to create happier, thriving careers.

Due to high levels of occupational hazards, firefighters are prone to psychological maladaptation, ranging from PTSD to burnout. However, it is not well understood why some firefighters persist in their careers while others choose to leave. In this qualitative study, photovoice as a form of digital storytelling was used to understand the factors of resiliency that may contribute to career persistence. Firefighters (n = 7) in a large, suburban fire department in Colorado contributed photographs and discussed the importance of their chosen photographs through individual, in-depth interviews. Using the theoretical lens of the resiliency portfolio model consisting of selfregulation, interpersonal relationships, and meaning making, analysis revealed subthemes that demonstrated firefighters’ capacity for resiliency. Within self-regulation, three subthemes emerged: adrenaline activities, alcohol, and positive coping. Within interpersonal relationships, two subthemes emerged: work-family and mentoring. Within meaning making, three subthemes became apparent: helping others, legacy, and fatalism. Recommendations for fire departments to enhance the dimensions of resilience are made based on the emergent themes with an emphasis on positive coping skills and mentoring.

[This is an excerpt.] Facing high rates of burnout and loneliness, some doctors are calling for the return of physician lounges. Once a fixture of hospitals, dedicated spaces for health workers to rest and socialize went out of style in recent decades as a result of cost-cutting measures and the rise of patient-centred design. According to hospital designers interviewed for a 2012 paper, “staff should spend less time talking amongst themselves and more time talking to patients.” Some even described staff collegiality as a threat to hospital performance. Studies have since shown that social isolation negatively affects health workers’ well-being, with medicine ranking among the loneliest professions. “When the most meaningful encounters you have with your colleagues on any given workday happen in the elevator, for example, then that’s a shame,” says Rose Zacharias, Ontario Medical Association (OMA) president. Virtual care has compounded this sense of isolation — not only are physicians seeing less of their colleagues, but they’re seeing less of their patients, too. [To read more, click View Resource.]

In this article I review studies of resistance to change and advocate new research based on a reconceptualization of individual responses to change as multidimensional attitudes. A challenging question for research and practice arises: How can we balance the organizational need to foster ambivalent attitudes toward change and the individual need to minimize the potentially debilitating effects of ambivalence? I conclude by highlighting the importance of examining the evolution of employee responses to change over time and the need to understand responses to change proposals that emerge from bottom-up, egalitarian change processes.

This article describes the "The Admissions Revolution: Bold Strategies for Diversifying the Healthcare Workforce" conference, which preceded the 2022 Beyond Flexner Alliance Conference and called for health professions institutions to boldly reimagine the admission process to diversify the health care workforce. Proposed strategies encompassed 4 key themes: admission metrics, aligning admission practices with institutional mission, community partnerships to fulfill social mission, and student support and retention. Transformation of the health professions admission process requires broad institutional and individual effort. Careful consideration and implementation of these practices will help institutions achieve greater workforce diversity and catalyze progress toward health equity.

This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Promoting Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.

Clinical pharmacy has continually evolved, with significant expansion in clinical pharmacists' qualifications and roles. However, this growth has not necessarily correlated with improved job satisfaction among clinical pharmacists. A survey of practicing clinical pharmacists performed by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Clinical Practice Affairs Committee A identified low satisfaction with the time allocated for clinical activities, quality improvement, research and scholarship, and teaching and mentorship. There was also low satisfaction with the recognition provided, despite a high desire for recognition and strong agreement that recognition affects job satisfaction. Rewards for workplace successes and advancement pathways are also not commonly provided. This white paper provides an update to the previous ACCP publications from 1995 and 2010 on the current state of rewards, recognition, and advancement for clinical pharmacists. Suggestions for the pharmacy profession and administrators on how to improve job satisfaction and retention and reduce burnout were developed by the committee and are provided as best practice recommendations.

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This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Meaningful Rewards& Recognition (Career Supports and Development)

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Understanding burnout and its effects on employees’ performance and wellbeing has been studied since the 1980s. Monitoring burnout syndrome among health care professionals, such as physicians and nurses, is a critical task. On the one hand, medical staff has to be good at controlling their own emotions in confronting the health care challenges; on the other hand, they share similar emotional exhaustion, frustration, and feelings with their own patients. This can lead to medical diagnosis errors, weak performance, and lower quality of treatments. The main purpose of this study is to provide a concise literature review of research works on burnout syndrome among medical staff, including research methods, assessments, solutions, and best practices. No matter their field of expertise and responsibilities, burnout is a considerable common psychological syndrome among medical staff, ranging from 40 to 66%. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) has been the most widely used questionnaire for data collection in the literature. Factors such as age, gender, marital status, and working conditions are identified as the most contributive parameters in the severity of burnout. Furthermore, studies have found that the degree of burnout can be reduced by under-taking self-improvement techniques such as meditation, development of communication skills, peer coaching, and doing art therapy. A considerable number of medical personnel are vulnerable to burnout syndrome in various degrees and forms. This common phenomenon threatens patients’ health and lives due to a reduction in medical care quality. This review covers the best practices for protecting and overcoming the hardnesses and challenges ahead of many health care professionals in their careers.

In the mosaic floor of the opulent atrium of a house excavated at Pompeii is a slogan ironic for being buried under 16 feet of volcanic ash: Salve Lucrum, it reads, “Hail, Profit.” That mosaic would be a fitting decoration today in many of health care’s atria.The grip of financial self-interest in US health care is becoming a stranglehold, with dangerous and pervasive consequences. No sector of US health care is immune from the immoderate pursuit of profit, neither drug companies, nor insurers, nor hospitals, nor investors, nor physician practices.

[This is an excerpt.] The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated work-related stressors and elucidated pre-existing unsafe working conditions, which have negatively impacted the well-being of healthcare personnel. Internationally, clinical capacity continues to be strained as COVID-19 cases reach new highs and the cadence of turnover among healthcare personnel worsens. This is of concern given that perception of clinical capacity to adequately meet patient care needs is one of the strongest predictors of burnout among nurses and physicians (Carthon et al., 2021; Olayiwola et al., 2018). Burnout is recognized as a reduction in energy that manifests in emotional exhaustion, cynicism and frustration that in turn can lead to decreased work efficacy over time (Maslach et al., 1997; Maslach et al., 2001). The World Health Organization recognizes burnout as an occupational phenomenon impacting clinicians around the globe (World Health Organization, 2019; Wright et al., 2022). [To read more, click View Resource.]

BACKGROUND: Unnecessary electronic health record (EHRs) documentation burden and usability issues have negatively impacted clinician well-being (e.g., burnout and moral distress). PURPOSE: This scoping review was conducted by members from three expert panels of the American Academy of Nurses to generate consensus on the evidence of both positive and negative impact of EHRs on clinicians. METHODS: The scoping review was conducted based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. RESULTS: The scoping review captured 1,886 publications screened against title and abstract 1,431 excluded, examined 448 in a full-text review, excluded 347 with 101 studies informing the final review. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest few studies that have explored the positive impact of EHRs and more studies that have explored the clinician's satisfaction and work burden. Significant gaps were identified in associating distress to use of EHRs and minimal studies on EHRs’ impact on nurses. CONCLUSION: Examined the evidence of HIT's positive and negative impacts on clinician's practice, clinicians work environment, and if psychological impact differed among clinicians.

INTRODUCTION: There is a lack of literature exploring vicarious trauma (VT) in emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. VT is emotional countertransference that occurs between the clinician and patient. The presence of trauma- or stressor-related disorders could be a factor in the rising suicide rate in these clinicians. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional statewide study of American EMS personnel, using one-stage area sampling. Nine EMS agencies were selected to participate based on geographic area, who then provided data about annual call volume and mix. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised was used to quantify VT. Univariate analyses used chi-square and ANOVA to evaluate the relationship between VT and various psychosocial and demographic characteristics. Factors significant in the univariate analyses were included in a logistic regression to determine predictors of VT while controlling for potential confounders. RESULTS: A total of 691 respondents participated in the study, of which 44.4% were female and 12.3% were minorities. Overall, 40.9% had VT. Of those, 52.5% scored high enough to potentially illicit immune system modulation. Compared to those without VT, more than four times as many EMS professionals with VT self-reported as currently in counselling (9.2% v. 2.2%; p < 0.01). Approximately one in four EMS professionals (24.0%) had considered suicide, while nearly half (45.0%) knew an EMS provider who had died by suicide. There were multiple predictors of VT, including female sex (odds ratio [OR] 1.55; p = 0.02) and childhood exposure to emotional neglect (OR 2.28; p < 0.01) or domestic violence (OR 1.91; p = 0.05). Those with other stress syndromes, such as burnout or compassion fatigue, were 2.1 and 4.3 times more likely to have VT, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Among study participants, 41% suffered from VT, and 24% had considered suicide. As a largely understudied phenomenon in EMS professionals, additional research on VT should focus on causality and the mitigation of sentinel events experienced in the workplace.

Law enforcement is often seen as a selfless profession where individuals protect the community by preparing for physical dangers. However, officers are not prepared for the potential dangers to their mental health. This thesis examined individual characteristics that might predict self-efficacy and burnout in law enforcement. The characteristics that I focused on are gender, race, veteran status, rank, and years of experience. I analyzed responses (n=464) to a survey conducted in a large city police department in the Southwest United States. I found that there was a strong negative correlation between self-efficacy and burnout rate. The demographic characteristics were not significant predictors for self-efficacy. Additionally, veteran status, rank, years of experience, and race were statistically significant predictors of burnout. Furthermore, the interaction of self-efficacy and race was a significant predictor of burnout. Specifically, race moderated the effect of self-efficacy on burnout. It is important to identify potential risk factors to help maintain officers’ mental health because officers often encounter emotionally charged stressors while on the job and those stressors could negatively affect their mental health over time.

PURPOSE: As one of the five major dimensions of service quality, empathy has been and continues to be regarded as a requirement for a successful service encounter. This paper focuses on the highly customer-centric service industry of health care. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the potential negative effects of empathy on both the physician and the patient. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Building on an in-depth review of literature and well-established service quality models, the authors propose a new model for understanding the complex role of physician empathy in the physician–patient encounter. The trait, emotional intelligence (EI), is presented as a moderator for physician empathy levels. FINDINGS: The Health Care Optimal Physician Empathy (HOPE) model enables further characterization and analysis of the tradeoffs between patient satisfaction and physician burnout and determining when empathy optimally works to the benefit of both the physician and the patient to maximize service quality. The HOPE model provides a systematic way to understand and determine the appropriate level of physician empathy that results in optimal outcomes for both physicians and their patients by demonstrating the tradeoffs between physician burnout and patient satisfaction. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The authors highlight the potential detrimental effects on physicians themselves, and, in turn, on service quality. The theoretical and practical implications in this paper provide insights into the development and implementation of empathy-focused interventions and best practices to optimize service quality in the physician–patient interaction. The HOPE model is the first of its kind in shedding light on the manifestation of physician empathy.

BACKGROUND: Research on burnout in the medical community has extensively studied the impact of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), which can include meditation, outdoor retreats, in-person didactics, and/or online wellness modules. However, in addition to these MBIs lacking objective, physiological measures for wellness, there has been little to no research involving virtual reality (VR) as an MBI modality for healthcare professionals in the United States. METHODS: A randomized controlled intervention trial was used to study the impact of VR-based guided-meditations in the form of brief paced-breathing exercises. Heart-rate variability (HRV), a biomarker for relaxation, was measured during each session. Thirty-two participants, consisting of primarily medical students, resident physicians, and registered nurses, were recruited to complete brief guided-meditations via a VR headset or a standalone mobile app in the emergency department (ED) on-call room of a large urban academic medical center. RESULTS: A total of 213 guided-meditation sessions were completed over the course of 4 weeks. Self-reported ratings of anxiety improved in both VR and mobile groups post-study. However, the VR group demonstrated higher intrasession HRV progress, indicating increased state of relaxation that also correlated with the number of sessions completed. Analysis by gender revealed disparity in HRV metrics between male and female VR participants. CONCLUSION/APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: VR-based guided meditations prove to be a feasible and accessible MBI that does not require extensive time commitment for healthcare workers. VR may be a more effective meditation platform compared with standalone mobile meditation apps, especially when used on a routine basis.

Pediatric residents are at high risk for moral distress, knowing the moral or ethically right thing to do but feeling unable to do it, which is associated with poor patient care and burnout. Researchers have proposed numerous interventions to reduce distress, but few (if any) have been supported by experimental evidence. In this study, we used an experimental method to provide proof-of-concept evidence regarding the effect of various simple supports on pediatric residents’ reported degree of moral distress.We conducted a study of pediatric residents using a split sample experimental design. The questionnaire contained 6 clinical vignettes describing scenarios expected to cause moral distress. For each case, participants were randomly assigned to see 1 of 2 versions that varied only regarding whether they included a supportive statement. After reading each of the 6 cases, participants reported their level of associated moral distress.Two hundred and twenty respondents from 5 residency programs completed the experiment. Cases were perceived to represent common scenarios that cause distress for pediatric residents. The addition of a supportive statement reduced moral distress in 4 of the 6 cases.In this proof-of-concept study, simple yet effective interventions provided support by offering the resident empathy and shared perspective or responsibility. Interventions that were purely informational were not effective in reducing moral distress.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To define what sleep deprivation is, how it relates to the growing problem of burnout within surgeons, and what can be done to mitigate its effects. RECENT FINDINGS: There is a growing awareness that sleep deprivation, in both its acute and chronic manifestations, plays an immense role in burnout. The physical and mental manifestations of sleep deprivation are manifold, effecting nearly every physiologic system. Studies evaluating strategies at mitigating the effects of sleep deprivation are promising, including work done with napping, stimulant use, and service restructuring, but are fundamentally limited by generalizability, scale, and scope. SUMMARY: The overwhelming majority of data published on sleep deprivation is limited by size, scope, and generalizability. Within acute care surgery, there is a dearth of studies that adequately define and describe sleep deprivation as it pertains to high-performance professions. Given the growing issue of burnout amongst surgeons paired with a growing patient population that is older and more complex, strategies to combat sleep deprivation are paramount for surgeon retention and wellbeing.

Obtaining good quality sleep is crucial to mental health. Social work students might be particularly vulnerable to mental health challenges and insufficient sleep, which can have important implications for self-care education. Examining social work students’ sleep characteristics (i.e. sleep duration and sleep quality) and health knowledge gaps can provide an important context for promoting healthy sleep among social work students. Nonetheless, the empirical literature lacks such data. The purpose of this study was to employ a sample of undergraduate and graduate social work students to: 1. assess sleep duration and sleep quality; 2. quantitatively and qualitatively examine knowledge about sleep and healthy sleep behaviors; and 3. identify sleep health knowledge gaps. Twenty-five social work students completed validated assessments and participated in a semi-structured focus group. Quantitative and qualitative data highlight poor sleep duration, poor sleep quality, and sleep health knowledge gaps among this population. Data also reveal that while students recognize the importance of sleep, they have difficulty obtaining adequate sleep due to various contextual constraints. These data support the importance of including sleep health in self-care education among social work students and highlight sleep health knowledge gaps that could be integrated into self-care education.

[This is an excerpt.] BURNOUT IN MEDICINE IS not new—the syndrome was described in 1974 by psychologist Herbert J. Freudenberger as a condition that occurs when occupation-related stress combined with additional life pressures exceed an individual’s ability to cope and thrive, resulting in physical and mental distress.1,2 Trauma and stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with subsequent widespread labor shortages, have turned what was an endemic issue in medicine to a pandemic of burnout in health care. Longitudinal work evaluating the prevalence of burnout among physicians in the United States between 2011 and 2021 demonstrated that 62.8% of physicians surveyed in 2021 reported at least 1 burnout-related symptom compared with 38.2% (P < .001) in 2020 and 45.5% (P < .001) in 2011.3 Given that burnout has been linked to higher rates of depression, substance use disorders, suicide, medical errors, and reduction in work hours, these findings have profound consequences not only for physicians and other members of the health care team, but for the practice of medicine more broadly.4-8 [To read more, click View Resource.]

Integral to holistic “big picture” nursing care is an empathy that strives for social justice. Social empathy requires more than technical skills or even interpersonal empathy or other-focus; it also requires a perspective that appreciates the impact of social determinants and seeks action to address them. This study sought to measure social empathy and potentially associated demographic, personal, and work-related factors among nurses. This cross-sectional, observational study used online survey methods to collect data from 614 registered nurses employed in a faith-based health care system in the northwestern United States. Constructs measured included social empathy, social advocacy, self-compassion, emotional exhaustion, and trust/mistrust in God. Parametric statistical tests, including multiple logistic regression, allowed analyses. Findings indicated that social empathy was high in this sample. Younger nurses, those more inclined to advocate, those more self-compassionate, those less burned out, those working part-time (in contrast only with those working overtime), and those with at least a baccalaureate degree in nursing were more socially empathic. Findings highlight further rationale for creating healthy work environments that foster self-compassion and minimize burnout.

Many factors within the social work profession can lead to empathic distress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. These concerns also apply to college students preparing for a career in social work. Compassion has been noted to be of benefit in connecting workers to clients, families, and communities. Likewise, self-compassion involves the skills of non-judgment, empathy, care for oneself, and social action, and has been studied as a preventative for burnout and distress among social workers. Given these benefits for established social workers, defining and practicing self-compassion is critical to the well-being of social work students and is worth examining for addition to social work curricula. In this exploratory qualitative research, using systematic content analysis, students were asked to define self-compassion and share how they engaged in self-care. Participants’ definition of self-compassion using empathy and non-judgment toward oneself reflected the concept of Mindfulness and Self Kindness, components of Neff’s Self-Compassion Scale. However, the element Common Humanity was missing in the students’ definition. Implications for social work education and curriculum development are discussed.