Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity

12/06/2023

⚙ Today is ! Have you explored the burnout & moral injury framework? This interactive framework explores the drivers and processes of burnout and moral injury and identifies practical strategies and tools for improving well-being in health and public safety settings.

The framework shows the links between drivers → process → outcomes and shows the feedback loop leading outcomes to perpetuate drivers.

🔵Drivers
Burnout and moral injury are driven by a complex set of intersecting factors. Environmental factors, like politicization and structural discrimination, contribute to relational and operational breakdown in the workplace.

🔵Process
The moral injury process starts with betrayal, leading to transgression, then to a continuum of moral injury, with subsequent feelings of anger, frustration, shame/guilt, and futility. For example, WCC partners Wendy Dean, MD and Simon Talbot have written extensively about the experience of moral injury among health workers, including this STAT article in our resource library (https://ow.ly/JngY50QctYR).

The process of burnout starts with chronic, unaddressed workplace stress and leads to three hallmark features: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of ineffectiveness.

While there are universal aspects in the process, individuals experience the effects of burnout and moral injury differently based on their own experiences.

🔵Outcomes
Burnout and moral injury produce negative outcomes, most obviously for workers and learners themselves, but also for patients, organizations, communities, and society at large.

🔵What to do?
On the WCC website you can find numerous actionable strategies for a variety of stakeholders (https://ow.ly/e2RG50QctYS). For example, professional associations can use the Restorative Justice in Academic Medicine Facilitator Training developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges to address relational breakdown by empowering worker and learner voice.

The National Framework for Addressing Burnout and Moral Injury in the Health and Public Safety Workforce, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), explores the drivers and process of burnout and moral injury and identifies practical strategies and tools to improve worker an...

11/29/2023

Reducing burnout and promoting wellness in the health and public safety workforce is an essential focus of the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity.* That’s why we, in collaboration with partners, developed the Workplace Change Collaborative and are proud to announce the launch of their new website.

At www.wpchange.org, you can find the interactive framework, actionable strategies, and a comprehensive resource library complete with nearly 800 resources to address burnout and moral injury among health and public safety workers.

With the new website, we are also starting a weekly series of posts, where we highlight a feature of the Workplace Change Collaborative. Be sure to follow along as we explore the framework, highlight actionable strategies for a variety of stakeholders, give examples of resources, and more.
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The Workplace Change Collaborative is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and is a unique partnership between the Mullan Institute, Moral Injury of Healthcare, Institute for Healthcare Improvement - IHI and AFT Healthcare.


*To learn more, see domain 6 of our Health Workforce Equity Evidence Review Series at https://www.wpchange.org/

The Workplace Change Collaborative captures innovative and evidence-based practices, lessons learned, and tools and resources for reducing burnout and promoting wellness in the health and public safety workforce to share with HRSA grantees and public audiences.

06/08/2023

If you missed the webinar featuring GWMI's behavioral health experts Clese Erikson and Randl Dent, where they discussed strategies for addressing mental health workforce shortages and providing LGBTQ+ competent care, you could watch it now.
https://ow.ly/VeMW50OJfGH

06/07/2023

Exciting news! 📢 Patricia Pittman, GWMI director, collaborates with healthcare experts at to discuss . Join her session on "The Leaky Bucket: Strategies for Health Workforce Retention." Don't miss out! ➡️ More info: https://www.gihac.org/agenda

06/06/2023

Exciting session today at the National Conference of State Legislatures! GWMI experts Patricia Pittman & Clese Erikson discuss State Strategies to Bolster the Health Workforce.
This session highlights state strategies to increase access to health care services delivered by a variety of providers. Attendees will have an opportunity to dive into state health workforce data related to Medicaid reimbursement and behavioral health, and state policy levers around recruitment and retention.
https://www.ncsl.org/events/details/a-national-meeting-of-state-health-and-human-services-committee-chairs

06/05/2023

Don't miss the eye-opening article by NBC News on immigrant healthcare workers facing harsh conditions & $100K lawsuits for quitting. GWMI director, Patricia Pittman, comments the demand has increased for foreign-trained health care workers, recruiters and staffing agencies have employed more aggressive tactics to keep workers in their jobs with longer contracts and bigger repayment fees, said Polly Pittman

Hospitals and nursing homes have filled thousands of vacant positions with nurses and other health care workers recruited from abroad, who say they are bound in some instances by contracts that impose tens of thousands of dollars in penalties for leaving and threats of lawsuits for not paying.

05/03/2023

Don't miss GWMI researcher Margret Ziemann's podium on strengthening primary care workforce for young adults with medical complexity at the Association of American Medical Colleges 2023 Health Workforce Research Conference! Learn more: ow.ly/5sft50O9L9Y

05/03/2023

Don't miss RandlDent & Mandar Bodas at the Association of American Medical Colleges 2023 Health Workforce Research Conference as they present their posters on addressing healthcare workforce burnout & international medical graduates' role in Medicaid. http://ow.ly/5sft50O9L9Y

05/02/2023

📅 Don't miss the Association of American Medical Colleges 2023 Health Workforce Research Conference happening this week! Our GWMI member, Jordan Herring, will present on Raising Degree Requirements for PAs' Impact on Black/Hispanic Representation and Medicaid billing for Home-Based Care.
http://ow.ly/lVS650O9LlM

04/24/2023

Join us for a special webinar on Global Health Workforce responses to COVID-19, featuring keynote speaker and GWMI researcher Margret Ziemann. Hosted by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policy, this event will provide an overview of the emergency workforce strategies adopted globally during the pandemic, the evidence for their effectiveness, and considerations for their implementation and long-term sustainability.

The discussion will include key policy lessons, potential challenges, and opportunities gleaned from the pandemic to strengthen health and care worker recruitment, retention, reskilling, and support and protection. Ms. Ziemann will be joined by a panel of global health workforce practitioners and experts.

Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to learn from experts in the field. Register now:
http://ow.ly/U98v50NQysA

04/20/2023

Cofounder, Wendy Dean, MD, will be in Washington, DC on Sunday afternoon to talk about If I Betray These Words at Politics and Prose Bookstore on Connecticut Avenue.

It's a great time to get your book - or to get yours signed. And bring friends, family, coworkers, or whoever needs to know these stories.

Free and first come, first served seating. Hope to see you there!

Steerforth Press Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity

03/29/2023

Fox News reports that doctors in training are unionizing. GWMI faculty Candice Chen says, "With the match system, it may not be surprising that residents unionize at a higher rate than physicians in general."

Medical residents in greater numbers are joining a union to help them advocate for better training and work environments for doctors; they want better work hours and fairer pay.