PACT is a team-based model of care in which a team of health professionals, led by a provider, works collaboratively with the patient to provide for all of the patient's healthcare needs—or appropriately coordinates care with other qualified professionals. Issues being studied include methods of improving care coordination, how to automate point-of-care delivery, and point-of-care health literacy dissemination.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Improving Workload & Workflows (Optimizing Teams).
Patient-Aligned Care Teams (PACT)
For facilities that are new to prevention of violence in healthcare - and even for those who are more experienced - it can sometimes be difficult to establish an effective; process that positively impacts their staff and facility. This online Prevention of Violence in Healthcare toolkit is designed to be a resource for any facility that would like to establish a violence prevention program or improve their current program. It contains sample policies and procedures, articles, staff education tools and other documents that facilities can use to educate their staff and their leaders about this process. You are welcome to make use of anything in this toolkit, or to adapt it for your own purposes. Where appropriate, please cite the organization that is the source of the tool. This toolkit will evolve and change over time, as we become aware of new tools and resources that may be helpful.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Ensuring Physical & Mental Health (Workplace Violence Prevention).
Prevention of Violence in Health Care Toolkit
[This is an excerpt.] Project ECHO® on Racism in Nursing is being conducted as part of the ongoing work of the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing, a multi-organizational collaborative of leading nursing organizations to examine the issue of racism within nursing nationwide and the impact on nurses, patients, communities, and healthcare systems to motivate all nurses to confront systemic racism. Through ECHO®, the National Commission is offering this free tele-mentoring program that connects nurses with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) experts using brief lectures and case-based learning, and discussion. The National Commission’s Project ECHO® on Racism in Nursing serves as a forum for nurses to increase their knowledge about how racism “shows up” in the profession and in healthcare and improves the skills needed to confront systemic racism and empowers nurses to become allies. [To read more, click View Resource.]
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Professional Associations: Spotlights: Professional Associations Relational Strategies (Improving Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion).
Project ECHO on Racism in Nursing
[This is an excerpt.] The proposed California Senate Bill No. 525 (SB 525) would establish a new $25 per hour minimum wage for health care employees working at various medical facilities in the state to replace the existing state minimum wage of $15.50 per hour for these workers. A $25 health care minimum wage would lead to a significant boost in the earnings for low-wage health care workers and their families.The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the health care sector in California. The mental and physical toll of the pandemic resulted in high turnover rates, exacerbating existing retention and recruitment challenges in the industry. The low wages paid to health care support workers, direct care workers, and health care service workers in California means they struggle to meet their basic needs; these low wages also significantly contribute to the difficulty in maintaining adequate health care staffing across the state. Staffing shortages impact patient care, leading to increased wait times, longer hospital stays, and inadequate treatment of chronic illnesses. The proposed policy would result in significant benefits to workers and their families. We estimate that over 469,000 workers would be affected by the wage increase, including over 50,000 workers who currently earn slightly above $25 an hour but would receive a pay increase to maintain their pay premium. Affected workers would receive an average wage increase of over $5.74 per hour, or about a 30% increase in pay. The proposed pay increase would disproportionately benefit workers of color, who represent 70% of affected workers; and women, who make up three out of four affected workers. The majority of affected workers are the primary income providers in their households. Close to half have children. The higher wages collectively represent 1.3% of personal health spending in the state. While there is large variation across types of facilities, the wage increases would raise operating costs by about 3%. These estimated impacts on health expenditures do not consider additional savings from higher productivity of health care workers. There is ample research linking higher pay, reductions in worker turnover, and improved staffing levels to better quality of care for consumers. Increasing pay to health care workers can be expected to improve patient outcomes, including shorter hospital stays and lower mortality rates. Therefore, as this report shows, the proposed minimum wage has the potential to substantially improve conditions for low-wage health care workers that provide essential services to the state; to ameliorate staffing shortages in the industry; and to improve quality of care. [To read more, click View Resource.]
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Government: Fair and Meaningful Reward & Recognition (Strengthen Worker Compensation and Benefits).
Proposed Health Care Minimum Wage Increase: What It Would Mean for Workers, Patients, and Industry
[This is an excerpt.] Nurses are at high risk for assaults and violence in the workplace due to their close proximity to patients. According to a Press Ganey Survey Report (2021), 2 nurses per hour are assaulted in the acute care setting. [To read more, click View Resource.]
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Ensuring Physical & Mental Health (Workplace Violence Prevention).
Protect Yourselves, Protect Your Patients
Time pressure, lack of control over work tasks, long working hours, shift work, lack of support and moral injury are important risk factors for occupational stress, burnout and fatigue among health workers.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Ensuring Physical & Mental Health (Mental Health).
Psycho-Social Risks and Mental Health
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Ensuring Physical & Mental Health (Mental Health) AND Strategies for Government: Ensuring Workers' Physical and Mental Health (Strengthen Occupational Safety and Health Policies) AND Ensuring Workers' Physical and Mental Health (Strengthen Occupational Safety and Health Policies).
Remove Intrusive Mental Health Questions from Licensure and Credentialing Applications: A Toolkit to Audit, Change, and Communicate
The National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience offers this collection of resources that highlight strategies and tools that health care leaders and workers can use across practice settings to take action toward decreasing burnout and improving clinician well-being.
Resources are organized into six essential elements, based on Organizational Evidence-Based and Promising Best Practices for Clinician Well-Being.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Measurement & Accountability.
Resource Compendium for Health Care Worker Well-Being
Inappropriate nurse staffing is a persistent and significant barrier to delivering optimal patient care and one of the most dangerous threats to patient safety and nurse well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this challenge to the point of crisis.
It will take a collaborative effort to change the staffing paradigm in our country to one that values nurse staffing as an investment in patient safety and better outcomes rather than an expense.
We know that appropriate staffing ensures an effective match between the needs of the patient and family, and the knowledge, skills and abilities of the nurse. It sounds simple, and yet it is not. It is time to stop bandaging our current staffing model—new approaches are crucial.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Improving Workload & Workflows (Safe & Appropriate Staffing) AND Actionable Strategies for Professional Associations: Spotlights: Professional Associations Operational Strategies (Workloads and Workflows).
Resources for Staffing in Acute & Critical Care
PURPOSE: To determine whether the Conrad Program, which allows states to recruit 30 foreign-trained physicians per year to work in underserved settings, is meeting its goal of increasing the number of physicians in Washington State's underserved areas. Participating physicians have completed their residency training in, and want to continue residing in, the United States. METHOD: The authors identified all J-1 visa waiver physicians assigned to employers in Washington between 1995 and 2003, tracked them (whenever possible) through public databases to their current locations, and surveyed them about their experiences in, and subsequent to, the program. RESULTS: The authors tracked 141 of 155 physicians (91%). Of those 141, 77 (55%) responded to the survey. These respondents reported that they remained with their J-1 waiver employers a median of 23 (range: 0–120) months longer than their required commitment periods and that they remained in practices serving primarily underserved populations for, on average, 34 (0–120) consecutive months after fulfilling their commitments. After leaving J-1 waiver employers, 35 of 47 physicians (74%) who served in rural areas moved toward more urban areas, and 57% (80/141) still live in the state. Whereas most expressed satisfaction with the program, 29/77 (38%) felt employers should have shown them more respect. CONCLUSIONS: In Washington State, the Conrad Program has increased the number of physicians in underserved areas who frequently stay beyond their obligations. The significant movement away from rural areas for postobligation employment, however, highlights the long-term need to continue state efforts to recruit physicians to these areas.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Government: Optimizing Workload & Workflows (Support & Ensure Safe Staffing).
Retention of J-1 Visa Waiver Program Physicians in Washington State's Health Professional Shortage Areas
WHAT TO KNOW
- Healthcare workers face challenging working conditions and high stress levels that can lead to poor mental and physical health.
- Long hours, hazardous conditions, and exposure to suffering and death all affect worker psychological, emotional, and social well-being.
- Learn about risk factors and what NIOSH is doing to help.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Ensuring Physical & Mental Health (Mental Health).
Risk Factors for Stress and Burnout
[This is an excerpt.] La salud mental es un componente importante del bienestar general y es igual de importantecomo la salud física para todos los empleados. Los problemas de salud mental debidos al trabajo tienen el potencial de afectar negativamente las interacciones sociales, la productividad, el rendimiento y el ausentismo de un empleado. El estrés afecta a las personas de diversas maneras, por ejemplo, tensión muscular, dolores de cabeza, malestar estomacal, presión arterial alta y enfermedades cardíacas. Ignorar el estrés enel lugar de trabajo puede tener efectos negativos a largo plazo en las personas, las familias, loscompañeros de trabajo y las comunidades. [To read more, click View Resource.]
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Workers & Learners: What Workers & Learners Can Do
Salud Mental en el Lugar de Trabajo
[This is an excerpt.] When a family member is drinking too much, using drugs, or struggling with a mental disorder, your support can be key to getting them the treatment they need. Starting the conversation is the first step to getting help. [To read more, click View Resource.]
Starting the Conversation: Supporting A Loved One Dealing with Mental and/or Substance Use Disorders
Stress First Aid (SFA) is a framework to improve recovery from stress reactions, both in oneself and in coworkers. The model aims to support and validate good friendship, mentorship and leadership actions through core actions that help to identify and address early signs of stress reactions in an ongoing way (not just after "critical incidents").
The goal of SFA is to identify stress reactions in self and others along a continuum and to help reduce the likelihood that stress outcomes develop into more severe or long-term problems. The core actions of SFA are appropriate for many occupational settings during critical events as well as for ongoing care. The manuals, trainings and resources below focus on health care workers; links to information about SFA versions specific to high-risk occupations like military, fire and rescue, law enforcement, and pretrial and probation settings are found under Additional SFA Versions and Manuals.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Ensuring Physical & Mental Health (Stress/Trauma & Resilience).
Stress First Aid: Manuals and Resources for Health Care Workers
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious admissions practices are unconstitutional, ending decades of support for considering race as a factor in college admission decisions. To help schools understand the impact of this decision and adapt their efforts focused on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, AACN has created this new resource page, which will be updated on an ongoing basis.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Promoting Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.
Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action: The National Response and Resources to Move Forward
[This is an excerpt.] On January 25, 2022, the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing (the Commission) released the results from a survey of over 5,600 nurses with findings showing racism is a substantial problem within the profession. [To read more, click View Resource.]
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Promoting Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.
Survey Shows Substantial Racism in Nursing
THRIVE enables communities to determine how to improve health and safety, and promote health equity. It is a framework for understanding how structural drivers, such as racism, play out at the community level in terms of the social-cultural, physical/built, and economic/ educational environments. We call these community-level indicators the community determinants of health. In addition to being a framework, THRIVE is also a tool for engaging community members and practitioners in assessing the status of community determinants, prioritizing them, and taking action to change them in order to improve health, safety, and health equity. As a framework, THRIVE is widely applicable to local, state, and national initiatives to inform policy and program direction. As a tool, THRIVE can be used in a variety of planning and implementation processes, from neighborhood-level planning to community health needs assessments (CHNA) and community health improvement planning (CHIP) processes.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Health Organizations: Aligning Values (Invest/Advocate for Patients, Communities, & Workers).
THRIVE: Tool for Health & Resilience In Vulnerable Environments
[This is an excerpt.] The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program helps communities grow their health workforce by training physicians and dentists in community-based settings with a focus on rural and underserved communities. This unique training model changes the physician training paradigm by providing the majority of training in community-based outpatient settings where most people receive their health care. The program aims to:
- Increase physicians and dentists trained in community-based settings
- Improve health outcomes for members of underserved communities
- Expand health care access in underserved and rural areas
[To read more, click View Resource.]
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Government: Optimizing Workload & Workflows (Support & Ensure Safe Staffing).
Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program
Establishing workflows that support team-based care will boost the productivity of your practice and enhance the experience of your patients. This collection of AMA's STEPS Forward® toolkits offer proven strategies on how to implement team-based care to save time, redistribute and share responsibilities with your team, and allow you to provide better and more timely care.
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Professional Associations: Spotlights: Professional Associations Operational Strategies (Workloads and Workflows).
Team-Based Care and Workflow
[This is an excerpt.] The Resilient Nurse podcast is a special series within the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing’s On the Pulse podcast. The podcast discusses tools and practices nursing faculty, students, and new nurses are using to renew and amplify their resilience. Each episode will cover the complexities, misconceptions, and new pathways toward keeping our nursing workforce resilient throughout Maryland and beyond. [To view more, click View Resource.]
