Abstract
[This is an excerpt.] Clinician burnout has become a dominant concern for health systems leaders, policymakers, and clinicians. In a 2022 Advisory,United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm and underscored the urgent need to address the rising levelsof burnout in the health care workforce across the country, laying out recommendations for health care organizations, policymak-ers, researchers, and other stakeholders to address this crisis. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Admin-istration (VHA) has similarly acted to address burnout among VA clinicians, establishing the Task Force to Reduce EmployeeBurnout and Optimize Organizational Thriving (REBOOT) in 2021. The REBOOT Task Force worked with VA researchers toreview the existing evidence on burnout and develop a comprehensive set of recommendations for immediate action. At thesame time, recognizing that there are gaps in the existing evidence overall and within VA settings specifically, the VA HealthServices Research and Development (HSR&D) program launched an effort in collaboration with AcademyHealth, the nationalorganization for health services research and policy, to establish a research agenda to guide future investments in research onthe drivers of burnout as well as effective interventions at all levels to prevent, mitigate and eliminate clinician burnout. With overnine million Veterans enrolled, the VHA is the nation’s largest integrated health care system, and its mission is to honor America’sVeterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being. As such, VHA is in a unique position toevaluate solutions and interventions across multiple levels of the organization.
Building upon previously published research and activities, AcademyHealth collaborated with a national advisory committee and a multidisciplinary group of experts and stakeholders from across and outside the VA to generate a set of priority research questions to address clinician burnout. Using an adaptation of The Stanford Model of Professional Fulfillment TM resulted in an agenda that includes research questions related to the design, implementation and evaluation at 1) the national level; 2)individual VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) in three domains: (a) enhancing the efficiency of clinical practice; (b) promoting a culture of wellness; and (c) ensuring institutional support for professional well-being; and 3) improving research and its impact. [To read more, click View Resource.]
