CMO Exchange: How to Address Healthcare Worker Burnout
By Christopher Cheney
Healthcare worker burnout was the primary topic of a roundtable discussion last week at the HealthLeaders CMO Exchange.
Healthcare worker burnout was widespread before the coronavirus pandemic and spiked during the public health emergency. A study found that from September 2019 to January 2022, overall emotional exhaustion among healthcare workers increased from 31.8% of staff members to 40.4%.
CMOs are well-positioned to address burnout among staff members, says Gary Little, MD, MBA, a CMO at Atrium Health.
“The CMO and other physician executive leaders can lean in on burnout,” he says. “The skill we bring and the expertise we bring is around identifying problems and putting teams together to find solutions. That is what we do—it is our superpower.”
CMOs need to engage healthcare workers to help address burnout, several CMO Exchange members say.
“Medicine is about relationships,” says Erik Summers, MD, CMO at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. “We have to make time as CMOs to see our staff members. You have got to get out there. You may not solve their problems, but listening is therapeutic. Listening goes a long way toward addressing burnout. There’s nothing like face-to-face communication.”
Better communication addresses burnout, Little says.
“We communicate what is happening in the organization and why on a regular basis,” he says. “We explain why decisions were made. We try to tie the complaints, issues, and concerns to an action or a solution, then communicate about it.”
Recognition is one of the ways healthcare organizations can combat burnout, says Jared Muenzer, MD, MBA, chief physician executive at Phoenix Children’s and chief operating officer of Phoenix Children’s Medical Group.
“We got a lot of feedback from our providers that the marketing communications and celebrations were all about the institution, and not about the individual providers and physicians,” he says. “Over the past two years, we have gone after celebrating our physicians and advanced practice providers. It’s not a direct solution to burnout, but it has been a huge win.”
Engagement is when a change is made and it impacts physicians, advanced practice providers, and other staff members, then they speak up about it, Little says.
“They may complain,” Little says. “It is not always negative when doctors and APPs complain—that tells me they actually care.”
Helplessness is a driver of burnout, and engagement can tackle the problem, says Bryana Andert, DO, medical director at New Ulm Medical Center.
“Things happen and staff members feel they are beyond their control. Learned helplessness feeds a victim mentality, which is where some of the burnout lies,” she says. “You need to engage with your people better, so they can believe there is somebody who is going to stand up for them. They may not get every single thing they want, but at least there is a pathway to address helplessness.”
“We have developed a physician leadership curriculum, which morphed as we were developing it to help address burnout,” he says. “The curriculum now focuses on psychological safety, empathy, a culture of safety, and conflict resolution. If we can identify physician leaders, then equip them with this skill set, we can have a scalable approach for addressing burnout.”
Limiting burnout can be achieved through removing “the pebble in the shoe” that can drive healthcare worker dissatisfaction, Andert says.
“For example, there was an operating room staff and the pebble in their shoe was they could not get the right-sized scrubs consistently when they showed up in the OR for their shift,” she says. “The response was to make sure they could get the right-sized scrubs, which did not cost a lot of money or time. They took that pebble out of their shoe, and it was a step in the right direction.”
A major driver for burnout is isolation, Andert says.
“Many years ago, physicians would go into the physicians’ lounge and engage with each other. There was community and opportunities to have friends,” she says. “We have to find ways to re-engage with each other and create ways to have a community of professionals. We have get-togethers once a month, where food is provided. We have a topic that spurs conversation.”