Physician and Nurse Well-Being: What Clinicians Actually Want Leaders to Do About Burnout
Fewer than 10% of clinicians described their workplace as joyful. Both physicians and nurses ranked management-led improvements to nurse staffing and work environments as more important to their mental health than any clinician-directed wellness intervention.
Context
To determine well-being and turnover rates among hospital physicians and nurses, identify modifiable factors associated with burnout and patient safety concerns, and understand which interventions clinicians themselves would find most valuable.
Outcomes included:
- Burnout prevalence among physicians and nurses
- Job dissatisfaction, intent to leave, and actual turnover rates
- Depression, anxiety, work-life balance, and self-rated health
- Patient safety ratings
- Clinician confidence in management
- Clinician-ranked preferences for well-being interventions
Methods
- Cross-sectional multicenter survey study conducted in 2021 across 60 nationally distributed US Magnet hospitals.
- 21,050 physicians and nurses surveyed; 15,738 nurse and 5,312 physician responses included in analysis.
- Respondents reported on mental health, work environment adequacy, patient safety, and preferred interventions.
- Data analysed from February 2022 to March 2023.
Outcome measures:
Clinician burnout; job dissatisfaction; intent to leave; actual turnover; depression and anxiety; patient safety ratings; adequacy of staffing and work environment; confidence in management; ranked intervention preferences.
Results
- High burnout was common: 47% of nurses and 32% of physicians met criteria for burnout.
- Nurse burnout was associated with higher turnover among both nurses and physicians.
- 26% of nurses and 12% of physicians rated their hospitals unfavourably on patient safety.
- 54% of nurses and 28% of physicians reported having too few nurses; 34% and 20% respectively reported a poor work environment.
- 46% of nurses and 42% of physicians lacked confidence in management to resolve patient care problems.
- Fewer than 10% of clinicians described their workplace as joyful.
- Both physician and nurse respondents rated management interventions to improve care delivery as more important to their mental health than clinician-directed wellness or resilience programmes.
- Improving nurse staffing was ranked the highest priority intervention by 87% of nurses and 45% of physicians.
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