Employee Health and Wellness

Employee Health and Wellness / en Fri, 04 Jul 2025 10:37:56 -0500 Wed, 21 May 25 15:01:25 -0500 View latest updates to AHA’s website on addressing stress and coping /news/headline/2025-05-21-view-latest-updates-ahas-website-addressing-stress-and-coping The AHA has updated the Stress and Coping Resources <a href="/stress-and-coping-resources" title="coping website">website</a>, which contains valuable information and resources to support mental well-being for both health care workers and the public.&nbsp; Wed, 21 May 2025 15:01:25 -0500 Employee Health and Wellness The Evolving Roles of Chaplains in Health Care Well-Being /advancing-health-podcast/2025-05-21-evolving-roles-chaplains-health-care-well-being-0 The role of chaplains continues to evolve in health care organizations, with chaplains being integrated into large-scale well-being initiatives. In this conversation, Jason Lesandrini, Ph.D., assistant vice president of Ethics, Advanced Care Planning, Spiritual Health and Language Access Services at Wellstar Health System, and Kelsey White, Ph.D., assistant professor and chaplaincy faculty researcher at the Department of Patient Counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University, discuss real-world examples of how chaplains reduce clinician and patient stress and address emotional and well-being needs in some of the most challenging moments in health care.<hr><div></div><hr><div class="raw-html-embed"> <details class="transcript"> <summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript."> View Transcript &nbsp; </h2> </summary> 00:00:01:27 - 00:00:24:23 Tom Haederle Welcome to Advancing Health. Tending to the overall well-being of a patient often has emotional and spiritual dimensions as well as medical. In today's podcast, we hear from two experts about how chaplains are helping people of all backgrounds in the health care setting as part of an interdisciplinary team, making sure care is focused on the whole person. 00:00:24:26 - 00:00:50:06 Elisa Arespacochaga I'm Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of clinical affairs and workforce at the AHA. Today, I'm joined by Jason Lesandrini, AVP of Ethics, Advanced Care Planning, Spiritual Health and Language Access Services at Wellstar Health System; and Kelsey White, assistant professor and chaplaincy faculty researcher in the Department of Patient Counseling at Virginia Commonwealth University. And this is a discussion I've been looking forward to for a little while. 00:00:50:06 - 00:01:09:27 Elisa Arespacochaga We're here to really discuss how they have worked to integrate chaplains into well-being programs in health care, and really make those connections across both their research and their organization. So to start off, Kelsey, why don't you start, just tell us a little bit about the work that you do and who you are. 00:01:09:29 - 00:01:33:07 Kelsey White, Ph.D. Yeah. Thanks for having me. I'm a professor primarily these days. But my career started out as a board certified chaplain working in outpatient, a very large outpatient center as well as oncology. Fell in love with chaplaincy to the extent that I wanted to figure out how to do research about it. And from there I went to do a Ph.D. and really focus on expanding the research and the integration of chaplains in my efforts. 00:01:33:09 - 00:01:37:27 Elisa Arespacochaga And I'm guessing that's how you got to meet Jason. Jason, can you tell us a little bit about your work? 00:01:37:29 - 00:02:08:20 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. Thank you. Thank you both for being with me today. So, like you said, I work at Wellstar Health System, which is a large integrated health care system in Georgia. I've been here for about ten years and really my focus on the work I was doing originally when I came was on ethics. That's where my background is. I'm a Ph.D. in healthcare ethics from Duquesne and spent a number of years at another local system doing ethics work and as I got here to Wellstar noticed there was a need, sort of in conversations with the executives to really take spiritual health as a team and have an executive representative. 00:02:08:20 - 00:02:12:23 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. And so I've been doing that eight years now is what we're going on. So I'm really excited for it. 00:02:12:26 - 00:02:24:11 Elisa Arespacochaga Kelsey, just to level set with our audience. Can you describe a little bit the role of a chaplain within a health care organization? I think everyone may have a little bit of an idea, but not fully understand what that role means today. 00:02:24:13 - 00:02:49:15 Kelsey White, Ph.D. Yeah, absolutely. So to kind of step back, they aren't just the folks that go in and pray, but really they're members of the interdisciplinary team who really help make sure that the health care that we provide is focused on a whole person. So they typically have a graduate level of education, clinical training, over a year of clinical training typically, board certification or certified eligible. 00:02:49:17 - 00:03:28:08 Kelsey White, Ph.D. And then they have this expertise to attend to individuals emotional, spiritual and that interpersonal well-being. So they are trained typically to talk to all people, whether it be staff or patients or family members, about spirituality, but not just what we think of as this like religious type of topic when it comes to spirituality. But spirituality really encompasses the way we make meaning of the world around us, how we find purpose and connection, and then to deal with kind of the tough things that happen in our life that make us ask why? 00:03:28:10 - 00:03:36:07 Kelsey White, Ph.D. And so chaplains are trained to really have those tough questions, but also to really support folks in really difficult situations. 00:03:36:09 - 00:03:57:24 Elisa Arespacochaga As I usually say, one of the challenges and opportunities in health care is that we are with people at what may be some of the most difficult moments in their lives, and so being able to not only support their physical health and their mental health, but their emotional health and their ability to connect with them and support them as they wrestle with some of those questions I think is key. 00:03:57:27 - 00:04:21:16 Kelsey White, Ph.D. Yeah. And I also add like because of the extensive training they've had, they're equipped to work with people from all different backgrounds and regardless of faith tradition. And I think they're really touching on these like core existential topics that are just part of everyone's natural being and that when those things are out of whack, they can end up impacting one's health, too. 00:04:21:18 - 00:04:34:09 Elisa Arespacochaga Jason, how are you actually incorporating this amazing set of skills and resources and humans in your organization into well-being initiatives? And, you know, Kelsey, I'm sure you have ideas as well. 00:04:34:11 - 00:04:59:13 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. Yeah. So it's a great question. Kelsey definitely has a lot to share about this as being a chaplain, not being a chaplain, but leading chaplains. I get to see the great work that they do. And I think here in my own organization, we have a program called CARES. It's an acronym that basically it's a sort of a response system that when sort of some type of critical incident happens, our chaplains are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days out of the year. 00:04:59:15 - 00:05:22:24 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. No holidays, no breaks, no nothing. They are there to respond. The chaplain is the first person who gets that call. And the beautiful thing about our chaplaincy program is that our virtual care providers are on the ground, right? We're not in a telecenter responding to our team. We're actually on the ground and can be with another person, which we think is really important to, sort of, staff's overall well-being. 00:05:22:24 - 00:05:41:16 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. Now, how you get in touch with them, of course, is electronically, but it's that physical presence that we think is important. You know, to Kelsey's point earlier about how do you care for this person? We care for them in the moment with them and to be by their side. And so our team, this is one big thing that we've been pushing as our team is there for others when they need them during those critical times. 00:05:41:19 - 00:06:18:02 Kelsey White, Ph.D. At VCU we do a whole lot of different things. I like to think about them in kind of two buckets. So we've got like chaplain efforts that really focus on in real time reducing stress levels, helping manage distressing situations whether it be debriefing or giving them a moment of respite. So some people have heard of, like tea for the soul or cheek hearts, where chaplains will push them around and offer clinicians these moments to just breathe and to be reminded that they're cared for and that they're supported and that they're not alone. 00:06:18:04 - 00:06:46:12 Kelsey White, Ph.D. And sometimes that can make a big difference in a busy day. And then there's this other group of ways in which, chaplains, I think can really impact well-being is thinking about a specific way that a chaplain can alter a workflow or a process that really shifts the burden off of other clinicians. So a really concrete example of this is, a program that was actually developed here at VCU called the Family Communication Coordinator. 00:06:46:15 - 00:07:17:23 Kelsey White, Ph.D. And this intervention is really focused on those individuals that qualify to donate an organ. And so the chaplain comes in and to relieve some of the stress on the nurses and the physicians and the clinical team will facilitate the process between the family and the organ procurement organization. Which really can just, I mean, decrease the stress, decreases role ambiguity and helps kind of minimize all of the things that are that can be exacerbated in those moments. 00:07:17:25 - 00:07:44:01 Elisa Arespacochaga I think that's so key. One of the challenges we keep seeing broadly in the workforce space is that need to unburden some of our team members from having to do all of the things, and how can we find those roles that and those activities that don't require a physician or a nurse to be doing it, but someone has to be part of the health system and, and be able to provide that support. 00:07:44:01 - 00:07:56:29 Elisa Arespacochaga So I love the idea of taking advantage of that amazing set of skills and connections and really, bringing them to bear on what has got to be one of the those difficult times. 00:07:57:01 - 00:08:33:03 Kelsey White, Ph.D. Yeah. And they're actually I talked to some chaplains recently who were part of their organizations efforts to assess for the social determinants of health. And that could be done by a lot of people. There's something about the way in which a chaplain is able to build that trusting relationship that not only helps with a specific process, but it's one less thing that the nurse has to screen for or attend to, but also those chaplains have the skills to get at really sensitive topics for patients and families. 00:08:33:06 - 00:08:47:23 Elisa Arespacochaga Jason, talk to me a little bit about how you're connecting this great work not only to you make it available to your patients, but to the organization's mission and overall well-being for your team, for those who are doing the caring. 00:08:47:25 - 00:09:11:11 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. Yeah. So here at WellStar, our mission is to enhance the health and well-being of every person we serve. And we're focused on something called People Care, which is about providing care that's unique to whoever. So it's Kelsey care, it's Jason care. It's all of our care. And look, I know this sounds silly, but I can't think of anything more people focused and thinking about how individuals deal with, mind, body and spirit. 00:09:11:13 - 00:09:29:16 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. Right. And thinking about what are those individuals who have expertise in that space, and in some of the spaces that we often forget of to sort of attuned to that. And so while most of our work tends to focus on patients and their families at the bedside, there's also this other side of people care, which is about the people who care for the people care. 00:09:29:19 - 00:09:50:28 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. And so, you know, we need to think a lot broader about this. Kelsey's earlier comments made me think of, you know, something that's really fascinating about working with chaplains. Sometimes it's just about being there. So, yes, the issue might be called up because of, you know, a family or a patient may be having some spiritual distress or something that's going on. 00:09:51:00 - 00:10:10:11 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. But I'll tell you that the beautiful thing is when you just watch it happen, it doesn't have to be anything magical. It's Kelsey as a chaplain coming to my bedside or talking with a patient, a family. And then what do they do? They go out to the nurses station or they see the doctor who's documenting, you know, in the chart or whatever it may be, or the EDS worker and just being with them. 00:10:10:11 - 00:10:27:19 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. I think that means a lot. And so when I think about how we focus on people care here and how we care for the people who care for the people that we care about, you know, that we're trying to tune to. I can't think of anything more connected than sort of the great work that our special care providers do across the entire enterprise. 00:10:27:21 - 00:10:48:22 Elisa Arespacochaga It's just so heartwarming to see the taking that moment, because, I mean, health care is a hard place to be. It's a hard place to work, but it's one that is so rewarding. And so hearing the opportunity that the chaplains can take to really sort of reground everyone in that work. Kelsey, let me ask you, I've got, sort of two options here. 00:10:48:22 - 00:11:07:19 Elisa Arespacochaga One share a story of something that surprised you as you've been involving chaplains in this work or -otherwise it may actually be both - advice you'd give to other organizations who are looking to tap into their chaplaincy programs to support well-being. And then, Jason, I'll ask you the same thing. 00:11:07:22 - 00:11:40:07 Kelsey White, Ph.D. The thing that I think surprises me the most when I have conversations with folks across the country is this level of innovation that chaplains are really living into in these efforts. They recognize the highly specific nature of the stress and distress they see, and can adapt in a way that focuses on their localized contexts. So if there is a certain challenge that is very... perhaps it was a community shooting, right? 00:11:40:11 - 00:12:04:08 Kelsey White, Ph.D. So the chaplain able to really adapt and address those tensions that are arising right there, and how that affected the clinicians because they're part of the community, too, right? They're not just there at the hospital, but they live there. And then I'd also add just the way in which chaplains care for the employees and the non, like at the outskirts of health care institutions. 00:12:04:08 - 00:12:33:21 Kelsey White, Ph.D. So there's stories about chaplains caring for security workers, teaching them how to be resilient, teaching them how to cope with intense situations. Or teaching community health workers how to engage in authentic conversation. You know, Jason talked some about just being there. And I really, I would even take it a step further. And there's something about being both physically available and emotionally available that is not unique in our everyday relationships. 00:12:33:23 - 00:13:04:18 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. I think the most surprising thing that I know in the work with chaplains is this misnomer about chaplains coming to pray. So Kelsey talked a lot about this. When I've asked my colleagues across the country about it that's what they tell me, that, you know, well, we call the chaplain to come in and pray. And I just think that selling them short, just really short of the work and scope, you know, we're all trying to work together every day to operate to the fullest extent of our capabilities because everyone in health care needs it. 00:13:04:21 - 00:13:21:24 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. So I think just thinking about chaplains, as folks who come up and pray with people is just way too narrow. They can do that. But man, they can do so much more if we just open the door. You know, I live by this principle about being a helper. I think they're helpers. I think that's what they actually are. 00:13:21:24 - 00:13:44:21 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. And they can help people across the spectrum: the religious, the non-religious, the spiritual, the non-spiritual. My experience has shown me that spiritual care providers are probably some of the best listeners and man, I can tell you this, I need an ear more frequently than I'd like to admit. It's not a judgment, it's not a religious context, it's just a really good listener. 00:13:44:23 - 00:14:04:22 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. Your second point, Elisa, maybe I could just chime in here because I got lots to say. And if people who know me across the country know that I have a hard time being quiet. So I'll say this about advice to other organizations. You know, you'd mentioned that. I think the biggest piece of advice I'd give other folks is please just ask them, that's the biggest piece of advice, is ask them for help. 00:14:04:24 - 00:14:23:10 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. I think that's the biggest problem we have across this country is that spiritual care providers, chaplains, all these folks who sit in this space are not being asked to assist with this work. And wow, if they are, the evidence is just not even you can't doubt it that they can help. But they got to ask. You got to ask them. 00:14:23:10 - 00:14:35:21 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. And we have to, you know, we're doing work on this on the other side is we got to have the chaplains and folks speak up. That's the other piece. You got to speak up. So we need to ask, you got to ask them what's the work that they can do? What can they do? And then hold them accountable for it. 00:14:35:21 - 00:14:45:24 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. Because I think that's part of the value that chaplains can do. The literature is clear, they can help. You got to ask them to do it and then just hold them to it because it will come out, I promise you. 00:14:45:27 - 00:15:10:00 Elisa Arespacochaga Jason and Kelsey, thank you so much for joining me, sharing a little bit about your world, and hopefully through this podcast, we're sharing with others the opportunity both for chaplains to raise their hands and for those around them to say, hey, you got a moment? Can I bend your ear? Because I think that is something we all need very much to get through health care and to be able to help others. 00:15:10:02 - 00:15:12:01 Elisa Arespacochaga So thank you again for joining me. 00:15:12:03 - 00:15:13:03 Kelsey White, Ph.D. Thank you. 00:15:13:06 - 00:15:14:24 Jason Lesandrini. Ph.D. Thank you. 00:15:14:26 - 00:15:23:07 Tom Haederle Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. </details> </div> Wed, 21 May 2025 12:53:50 -0500 Employee Health and Wellness Musicians Send Holiday Cheer to Caregivers and Patients /advisory/2024-12-13-musicians-send-holiday-cheer-caregivers-and-patients <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8">Musicians On Call returns with a new, exclusive holiday special for AHA members as part of the AHA Forever Grateful campaignFor the fifth consecutive year, Musicians On Call’s Hope for the Holidays virtual concert is back with songs and messages from music’s biggest names exclusively available to hospitals this holiday season. This festive virtual concert is filled with performances of holiday favorites and warm greetings from some of the brightest stars in music and hosted by Gavin DeGraw.AHA members will get the first look with special early access beginning today; the concert expires on Jan. 3, 2025. View the concert on the Musicians On Call&nbsp;<a href="https://connect.musiciansoncall.org/programs/holidayaha">virtual program portal</a> using the password “aha” (case sensitive).AHA members have early access to this special concert but are also welcome to share with patients and staff at their facilities. Some organizations upload the concert to their internal video channels. AHA and Musicians On Call kindly request that the link or details are not shared externally or on social media, as this is an exclusive concert for patients and health care staff.<h2>FOREVER GRATEFUL</h2>Health care professionals care for their communities with compassion and skill, often courageously caring for their communities under trying circumstances. The AHA invites the public to thank the people at your local hospital or health system for all they do to keep you and your community healthy and safe.<ul><li>Share a message via social media using the hashtag #ForeverGrateful.</li><li>Download the <a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/11/Forever-Grateful-2024-Digital-Toolkit.pdf">AHA 2024 Forever Grateful toolkit</a> for sample social media posts and graphics to use on your organization’s social channels.</li><li>View <a href="/forevergrateful">patient testimonials</a> from AHA member hospitals.</li></ul><h2>FURTHER QUESTIONS</h2>If you have further questions, please contact AHA at 800-424-4301.</div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/system/files/media/file/2024/12/musicians-send-holiday-cheer-to-caregivers-and-patients-advisory-12-13-2024.pdf"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/cover-musicians-send-holiday-cheer-to-caregivers-and-patients-advisory-12-13-2024.png" data-entity-uuid="2c314995-c620-4b8b-92ca-78ef0d841244" data-entity-type="file" width="640" height="834"></a></div></div></div> Fri, 13 Dec 2024 10:01:50 -0600 Employee Health and Wellness Committee advances bills to reauthorize programs to support health care workers, pediatric emergency care /news/headline/2024-03-20-committee-advances-bills-reauthorize-programs-support-health-care-workers-pediatric-emergency-care The House Energy and Commerce Committee March 20 unanimously passed <a href="/news/headline/2024-01-30-bill-would-reauthorize-lorna-breen-health-care-provider-protection-act">AHA-supported</a> legislation to reauthorize through 2029 the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act (H.R. 7153), which provides grants to help health care organizations offer behavioral health services for front-line health care workers. The bill also would reauthorize a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/impactwellbeing/default.html">national campaign</a> that provides hospital leaders with evidence-based solutions to support worker well-being. Without congressional action, the law will expire at the end of this year. &nbsp; &nbsp; Among other <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/events/full-committee-markup-of-28-bills">actions</a>, the committee passed legislation (H.R. 6960) to reauthorize the Emergency Medical Services for Children Program, which provides funding for equipment and training to help hospitals and paramedics treat pediatric emergencies. AHA advocated for funding the program at $28 million for fiscal year 2024. &nbsp; Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:03:09 -0500 Employee Health and Wellness AHA participates in NAM event on health workforce well-being, DEI /news/headline/2024-03-13-aha-participates-nam-event-health-workforce-well-being-dei In anticipation of the first <a href="https://nam.edu/initiatives/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/health-workforce-well-being-day/">Health Workforce Well-Being Day</a> March 18, the National Academy of Medicine this week held an <a href="https://nam.edu/event/health-workforce-well-being-day-celebratory-event">event</a> to share success stories and resources to inspire action. Participants discussed the ongoing need to support the well-being of health care workers, which they said will require a team effort, and the importance of understanding the intersection of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in well-being work. The afternoon <a href="https://nam.edu/event/intersection-of-dei-with-health-worker-well-being-a-systems-approach/">session</a> on DEI included representatives from Ochsner Health, Johns Hopkins and the University of California Davis School of Medicine, who shared examples of how their teams coordinate; and Elisa Arespacochaga, AHA’s vice president of clinical affairs and workforce, who facilitated a question-and-answer session with presenters. Wed, 13 Mar 2024 15:25:10 -0500 Employee Health and Wellness Building a Systemic Well-being Program: A 5-Step Blueprint /news/headline/2024-02-21-building-systemic-well-being-program-5-step-blueprint The AHA’s Physician Alliance and the Collaborative for Healing and Renewal in Medicine have released a five-step blueprint to help health care leaders build a systemic well-being program to prevent health care worker burnout. The resource shares case examples, lessons learned and resources to help guide and enrich organizational well-being efforts. <a href="/building-systemic-well-being-program-5-step-blueprint" target="_blank">READ MORE</a> Wed, 21 Feb 2024 14:22:17 -0600 Employee Health and Wellness AHA podcast: The Growing Role of Chief Wellness Officers in Health Care /news/headline/2024-02-08-aha-podcast-growing-role-chief-wellness-officers-health-care Jonathan Ripp, M.D., chief wellness officer for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and one of the nation’s first, discusses his role and how the importance of employee wellness has evolved over the past decade. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-02-07-growing-role-chief-wellness-officers-health-care">LISTEN NOW</a><div></div> Thu, 08 Feb 2024 15:03:00 -0600 Employee Health and Wellness What Physicians and Nurses Want Execs to Do about the Burnout Problem /aha-center-health-innovation-market-scan/2024-02-06-what-physicians-and-nurses-want-execs-do-about-burnout-problem <div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-md-8"><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/What-Physicians-and-Nurses-Want-Execs-to-Do-about-the-Burnout-Problem.png" data-entity-uuid="7f5087e6-99b2-4f22-8c15-cde203b969b2" data-entity-type="file" alt="What Physicians and Nurses Want Execs to Do about the Burnout Problem. A human head in profile is opened like a lighter with flames coming out of the inside." width="100%" height="100%">Burnout rates among physicians and nurses are declining slightly, but they remain above pre-pandemic levels, with staffing shortages emerging as a top contributing factor.Meanwhile, those who report they are starting to feel burned out cite efficiency concerns while those who are completely burned out cite concerns related to their organizations more broadly. Moreover, the severity of clinician burnout and the likelihood of their leaving the organization are strongly correlated.These are some of the key findings from a recently released <a href="https://klasresearch.com/archcollaborative/report/understanding-and-addressing-trends-in-physician-and-nurse-burnout-2024/561" target="_blank" title="KLAS Research: Understanding &amp; Addressing Trends in Physician &amp; Nurse Burnout 2024">KLAS Arch Collaborative report</a>.The report, based on KLAS data collected from more than 20,000 physicians and more than 32,000 nurses between January 2022 and August 2023, also found that clinicians want improved staffing and better alignment from leadership, greater electronic health record (EHR) efficiency and better pay.<h2>Key Contributors to Burnout</h2>Top factors contributing to clinician burnout are:<ul><li>Staffing shortages, noted by 56% of physicians and 65% of nurses.</li><li>Too many bureaucratic tasks, cited by 54% of physicians and 29% of nurses.</li><li>A chaotic work environment, noted by 28% of physicians and 39% of nurses.</li><li>No control over workload, reported by 39% of physicians and 18% of nurses.</li><li>After-hours workload, reported by 45% of physicians and 11% of nurses.</li></ul>Across work environments, burnout is fairly consistent, but it differs by organization type. Physicians and nurses working in community health systems are the most burned out, likely because these organizations experience higher turnover rates that result in increased workloads and less support, the report concludes.Yuma Regional Medical Center, a member of the Arch Collaborative, proactively created a psychologist-led program to address physician burnout. Their strategy includes ongoing monitoring and follow-up appointments, fostering a culture of open communication and reducing stigma around burnout.<h2>Bridging the EHR Efficiency Chasm</h2>The Arch Collaborative conducts research on burnout, focusing on how it intersects with the EHR. The report underscores that health care leaders can help alleviate clinician burnout and improve EHR satisfaction by focusing on efficiency.The authors note that health systems can do this by providing additional EHR education, supporting EHR personalization and reducing repetitive actions. Removing constant, daily irritants is an effective way to help clinicians feel more in control of their workload.Previous KLAS research shows a correlation between strong information technology delivery and reduced burnout. Likewise, physicians and nurses need evidence that the organization values their ideas.</div><div class="col-md-4"><a href="/center" title="Visit the AHA Center for Health Innovation landing page."><img src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/logo-aha-innovation-center-color-sm.jpg" data-entity-uuid="7ade6b12-de98-4d0b-965f-a7c99d9463c5" alt="AHA Center for Health Innovation logo" data-entity- type="file" width="721" height="130" class="align-center"></a><a href="/center/form/innovation-subscription">&gt;<img src="/sites/default/files/2019-04/Market_Scan_Call_Out_360x300.png" data-entity-uuid data-entity-type alt width="360" height="300"></a></div></div></div>.field_featured_image { position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } .featured-image{ position: absolute; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0 0 0 0); height: 1px; width: 1px; margin: -1px; padding: 0; border: 0; } Tue, 06 Feb 2024 06:00:00 -0600 Employee Health and Wellness AHA podcast: Peer Support and Building an Infrastructure of Employee Mental Wellness /news/headline/2024-01-17-aha-podcast-peer-support-and-building-infrastructure-employee-mental-wellness Suzanne Bentley, M.D., chief wellness officer at New York City Health and Hospitals Elmhurst, discusses the critical role of peer support in employee mental health and the impact of building infrastructure focused on the well-being of staff. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-01-17-peer-support-and-building-infrastructure-employee-mental-wellness?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=aha-today">LISTEN NOW</a>&nbsp; Wed, 17 Jan 2024 14:15:57 -0600 Employee Health and Wellness The Well-being Impact of Northwestern Medicine's Scholars of Wellness Program /advancing-health-podcast/2023-12-15-well-being-impact-northwestern-medicines-scholars-wellness-program In recent years, American health care has become acutely aware of the importance of well-being for its workers. To address the mental stresses of health care, Chicago’s Northwestern Medicine established the Scholars of Wellness program, focusing on understanding what well-being actually means, and how it can be woven into organizational culture. In this discussion, Gaurava Agarwal, M.D., vice president and chief wellness executive at Northwestern Medicine and director of faculty wellness at Northwestern University, and Samantha Saggese, physician assistant of nephrology and hypertension at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, explain the difference the Scholars of Wellness program is making, and how it could be adopted for the benefit of hospitals and health systems across the nation.<hr><div></div><div class="raw-html-embed"> <div class="raw-html-embed"> <details class="transcript"> <summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript."> View Transcript &nbsp; </h2> </summary> 00;00;00;21 - 00;00;24;25 Tom Haederle In recent years, American health care has become acutely aware of the importance of well-being, personal and professional, among care providers. Top quality patient care is easier to deliver for physicians, nurses and other team members if they're operating at the top of their game. Chicago's Northwestern medicine has created an innovative program to elevate the importance of provider well-being across the entire organization, 00;00;25;00 - 00;01;10;07 Tom Haederle department by department. Its Scholars of Wellness program has been expanded to bridge and create connections across professions by bringing advanced practice providers into the group. Welcome to Advancing Health, a podcast from the �� Association. I'm Tom Haederle with AHA Communications. Northwestern Medicine's Scholars of Wellness program focuses on teaching and understanding of what well-being is and how it can be woven into the culture of an organization at the local or departmental level. 00;01;10;10 - 00;01;24;25 Tom Haederle In this podcast, two experts from Northwestern join the AHA’s Elisa Areaspacochaga,, vice president of Clinical Affairs and Workforce, to discuss the difference the Scholars of Wellness program is making and how it could be adopted almost everywhere. 00;01;24;28 - 00;01;57;14 Elisa Areapacochaga Thanks, Tom. I'm Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president for Clinical Affairs and Workforce. And today I'm joined by Dr. Gaurav Agarwal, vice President and Chief Wellness Executive at Northwestern Medicine and director of Faculty Wellness at Northwestern University. And Samantha Saggese, physician assistant in the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Really excited about today's conversation. Talk about well-being, the work that this team has done through the Scholars of Wellness program and the expansion to working with their APP colleagues. 00;01;57;16 - 00;02;04;16 Elisa Areapacochaga So just to get us started and introduce yourselves a little, I'll start with you, G, if you could just tell us a little bit about yourself and your role. 00;02;04;18 - 00;02;35;22 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. Sure. Thank you and great to be with you again, Lisa. Again, Gaurav Agarwal, everyone just calls me G. I serve as our chief executive. I'm a psychiatrist in organizational well-being and leadership coach by training and I've had a chance to lead our well-being efforts at Northwestern Medicine. First, starting with our physicians, frankly, before the pandemic started, and then through the pandemic and over the last year or so, taking over this role of chief executive that looks over the well-being of our entire workforce. 00;02;35;24 - 00;02;36;25 Elisa Areapacochaga And Sam. 00;02;36;28 - 00;02;58;22 Samantha Saggese Thank you, Elisa. Thanks for have me on the podcast today. It's a real honor. I first joined Northwestern as a student actually back in 2017. I moved to Chicago from the Boston area, and then I joined the Division of Nephrology on their inpatient consults service in 2019, and I met G through my participation in Scholars of Wellness this past year. 00;02;58;24 - 00;03;10;03 Samantha Saggese My project, which we'll talk a little bit about, was focused on peer support for advanced practice providers. And coming up, I will be serving as the Office of Well-Being APP liaison for Northwestern Medicine. 00;03;10;06 - 00;03;12;02 Elisa Areapacochaga Wonderful. And congratulations. 00;03;12;04 - 00;03;12;27 Samantha Saggese Thank you. 00;03;12;29 - 00;03;38;00 Elisa Areapacochaga G, let's start with you. I know you've had a lot of success with the Scholars Wellness Program. I know you've spoken at HRA conferences and others, and it's allowed you to create this, for lack of a better term army of wellbeing champions across the organization. Can you give us just the quick thumbnail sketch of the program and how you've started to spread that now outside of the physician community and particularly to APPs? 00;03;38;02 - 00;04;17;29 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. Yeah, absolutely. Scholars of wellness is our flagship program. It's sort of the engine that runs our Office of Well-Being program for the reasons you stated. I remember when someone first came to me and said, Hey, you know, we'd like for you to think about wellness. And I said, Me and who else? Because I said that that doesn't seem like a very effective plan, because I really do believe that if we define wellness as really providing a superior work environment to the people that work at our organization, you know, in my view, wellness has to be locally led because those folks know how their departments divisions work for the best and they know how 00;04;17;29 - 00;04;41;24 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. they want to provide the best patient care for their patients. And so we have to listen to them about those sorts of issues. Where we can help them, though, so that they're actually effective, empowered change agents around wellness, is to really provide them with the skills and knowledge that we think you need to be able to craft a work environment that is optimal. 00;04;41;26 - 00;05;07;02 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. And what we sort of reflected on was these sort of three buckets. One was we do need to understand the science of well-being and how well-being really does work in particularly the health care setting, but in work settings in general. You have to understand how to do process improvement in project management if you're going to make changes in the actual workflows and work environments. 00;05;07;02 - 00;05;33;22 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. Those systemic drivers of well-being that we're well aware are at the root of health care professional fulfillment. And number three, and something that we have found is the secret sauce is you have to have some understanding of how change management and change leadership will work. When you are working within a system and we felt that those were oftentimes lacking in our clinicians because that's frankly what we did not spend time learning in our training. 00;05;33;22 - 00;05;54;01 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. So we wanted to be able to provide a curriculum and professional development program that provided those three sets of skills. And to do that in a setting where people would actually apply those skills in real time to a project of their choosing. So as we all know, you don't learn something until you actually put it in practice and see how it works in the real world. 00;05;54;01 - 00;06;05;00 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. And, and by doing that, we think that helps consolidate folks knowledge and really create a lot of momentum, both as leaders and through these pilot projects that they stand up for Northwestern. 00;06;05;03 - 00;06;19;04 Elisa Areapacochaga That's awesome. And you reminded me of something my father always used to say to me whenever I said, Oh no, I totally understand it. He would say, All right, explain it to me. And then when I couldn't explain it, you'd be like, All right, let's go over it again. So I love that you make it very real and actionable. 00;06;19;04 - 00;06;41;15 Elisa Areapacochaga And in the moment of, let's learn this skill, now let's go use it. Understand how it works. So continuing on that theme, what do you think has made this expansion of this work ... you had a lot of success with physicians in expanding it, to now the APPS and looking to really look at the overall well-being of all of your team. 00;06;41;18 - 00;06;45;17 Elisa Areapacochaga How has that been successful and what do you think has been the winning strategy there? 00;06;45;19 - 00;07;14;14 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. Yeah, I think for us, when when we were charged with moving from looking over the well-being of physicians to the entire workforce, we sort of had a decision to make and that was how do we continue to be effective without feeling like we have to boil the ocean? Because I find that that's usually where people fail or they begin to really create stuff that is pretty frankly superficial and people don't feel us then. 00;07;14;16 - 00;07;37;00 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. And so we wanted to say, okay, how can we find a group of folks that we really want to do a deep dive on and better understand their drivers? Because, you know, as a doc, I sort of feel like I understand physicians, but I was well aware that I wasn't sure what the actual drivers of professional for them were for our APPs. 00;07;37;00 - 00;08;07;25 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. But what I did know was our organizational data and national data, which showed that APPs were struggling. And so I said, Well, this seems like a group of individuals that has some similarities to our physician drivers is frankly small enough that I could actually do a deep dive and that we had partners that were ready to allow us to to engage with them and, you know, really welcomed us with open arms. 00;08;07;25 - 00;08;28;19 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. I think those three factors were really key in the change management part of this. We were also lucky enough to receive an all in grant to help with this expansion of the Scholars of Wellness. And that really allowed us, you know, the networking resources, the financial resources to expand the program to our APPs across our 11 hospitals. 00;08;28;22 - 00;08;55;28 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. And then, you know, the first thing we did was really connect with our APP directors. We have three of them at Northwestern Medicine, and like I said, they began to explain to us the leadership infrastructure that we have for APPs. How would we begin to select and recruit our scholars and our APPs and which projects were really high need and that had sort of been on the back burner in some cases. 00;08;56;01 - 00;09;16;20 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. And they said, you know, we'd love to have your expertise, help us actually launch these programs that we know our APPs are are yearning for. And I think all those factors really led to a very successful expansion last year. And this year we're going to continue on with our program, with our APPs across the system and actually frankly, add our pharmacists as well. 00;09;16;22 - 00;09;37;04 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. And I think I'll finish with one point is, you know, as we start thinking about workload and how workload continues to explode post-pandemic, you know, it started to occur to me that we really only have two options because the workload isn't going to get less, I don't think. We really have technology which, you know, I hope hope serves us well. 00;09;37;04 - 00;10;06;05 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. But I'm always nervous to rely solely on technology to save us. And if it's not technology, then it's teamwork. And we had to figure out how to create high functioning teams. And we thought that one way that we could do that was by beginning to have cross collaboration or collaboration with a program like this, where people can really begin to get to know each other, work with each other, and begin to understand what drivers each one is facing. 00;10;06;08 - 00;10;30;00 Elisa Areapacochaga You know, absolutely. I think the the more you can break down those barriers between people and get them started working on a project, giving them a purpose and and a shared goal is a great way to start building some of that teamwork. And certainly the demographics would back you up with 10,000 baby boomers retiring a day. I don't think we're going to see any decrease in the number of patients being served. 00;10;30;00 - 00;10;47;11 Elisa Areapacochaga So, Sam, let me turn to you. And as one of the most recent graduates of the Scholars of Wellness program, can you talk a little bit about your experiences? A participant in one of the first to the APP class of participants and maybe focus on what you found most meaningful of the work? 00;10;47;14 - 00;11;16;07 Samantha Saggese You know, for me, SOW was obviously wellness - we call it SOW - was such a unique experience because it allowed me to finally take off my clinical hat for a little while where I spent so much energy on the patient well-being and try on a new hat, really focusing on provider and colleague well-being. And when I talk to other colleagues and to friends about this program that I participated in, it really takes almost no explanation as to why it's important. 00;11;16;10 - 00;11;38;23 Samantha Saggese You know, it's no secret that work like this is really essential in today's climate. And for me personally, I loved learning the science behind employee well-being. I thought it was fascinating. I also thought it was just such a cool opportunity to make connections with colleagues and departments that I rarely get to overlap with, especially for me working in internal medicine subspecialty. 00;11;38;23 - 00;12;02;29 Samantha Saggese I don't often overlap with certain surgical specialties and anesthesia and really get to get fresh perspectives from people all around the hospital. And what I found so meaningful about this work is really understanding that it doesn't take huge sweeping changes to improve the day to day experience for colleagues, you know, getting a big pay bump or improving employee benefits. 00;12;03;06 - 00;12;27;06 Samantha Saggese This is obviously going to improve well-being. But for the vast majority of us, this is not within our sphere of influence. And so what we do have influence to change are the small things or the pebble in the shoe, as G likes to call it. And these things really can make life better for all of us. And I got this opportunity to hear what other people are doing in their divisions, and it just set off alarm bells for me to bring back to my own division. 00;12;27;08 - 00;12;50;17 Samantha Saggese And so I've already started to kind of copy and paste some solutions that other scholars have implemented, like QR codes that lead to quick abbreviated feedback forms for trainees or a straightforward survey to collect and organize provider vacation requests. And I'm trying to bring these back into my own division and see how we might be able to incorporate them. 00;12;50;19 - 00;13;16;17 Elisa Areapacochaga That's awesome. Yeah. Sometimes it's the smallest changes that can make a difference for people. So let's talk a little bit about how this has and I don't know if this is something you planned from the beginning or not, but how it's helped really benefit that relationship between your APP colleagues and the physicians they work with and how it's improved those relationships. 00;13;16;19 - 00;13;42;21 Samantha Saggese Yeah. So as she mentioned, this was the first year that we had a blended class of scholars, so including both APPS and physicians working side by side and learning side by side. And at Northwestern it's commonly APPS and physicians really are already working side by side as colleagues in the clinical setting. And so this was unique in that it kind of mirrored that in a professional development settings. Within our APP community 00;13;42;21 - 00;14;08;22 Samantha Saggese at Northwestern, we have a ton of enthusiasm for advancing our professions and expanding opportunities for APPS to grow in their careers. But oftentimes these opportunities are specific to APPS and we're not commonly blending with physician colleagues during these professional development series. And so being able to learn from one another and really feel as though we're all moving through the experience together was truly unique. 00;14;08;25 - 00;14;40;05 Samantha Saggese And while there is a fair amount of overlap between drivers of fulfillment for APPs and physicians, there are some nuances that I feel like said APPS apart, but maybe most physicians aren't aware of. And so specifically the experience of an APP may have at their place at work can just really vary greatly depending on the environment. And so for me personally, I realized over my years of being a provider that I'm very lucky that the physicians I work with have been supportive of my development from day one. 00;14;40;08 - 00;15;06;05 Samantha Saggese And through this I grew as a provider and I built trust with my colleagues. And now I can say that within my field I'm practicing near the top of my license. However, for a lot of other APPS, roles can sometimes be loosely defined, and this is a huge source of stress. And physicians who may just not be familiar with an APP or what they're capable of might use them in roles that are more akin to a resident or a scribe. 00;15;06;08 - 00;15;30;29 Samantha Saggese And so not practicing to our full scope can feel demeaning to a provider and really leave APPS feeling like their skill set that they work so hard to attain is just not being appreciated. And so, you know, for me personally, I was probably the least tenured provider at the table during this this class. And so sometimes I feel intimidated among more senior APPs, let alone among some of my physician colleagues. 00;15;31;02 - 00;15;55;01 Samantha Saggese But the group dynamic honestly just put me at ease. It showed me that this is a community of providers that really was invested in learning from one another, regardless of background or years of experience. And so I really feel like representation for APPS and this sort of environment is essential to promoting a culture of mutual respect between APPS and physicians and really we were all just there to learn from one another. 00;15;55;03 - 00;16;12;05 Elisa Areapacochaga That's awesome. G, let me ask you to throw in your thoughts from the physician perspective. You know, are were there any places where you saw, oh, this is really benefiting our ability to better work with and partner with our APPS? 00;16;12;08 - 00;16;34;03 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. Yeah, You know, I mean, I think for me I was nervous actually. Our initial thought was to create a separate program, one for physicians, one for APPs, because I didn't know if one of the things I love about the program having run it for a few years is physicians sort of let down their hair and talk openly about their struggles. 00;16;34;03 - 00;16;48;06 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. I didn't know if they would go back into the sort of doctor mode if the APPS were there and sort of buttoned up, and I didn't want that because I really do think that is a huge part of our success. But as we sort of played with it a little while, they said, you know, I think it'll be okay. 00;16;48;06 - 00;17;10;14 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. I think, as Sam said, we work a lot together with APPS and I think we'll be able to do it. And I think the teamwork benefit outweighed the risk, if you will. And so when it happened, it was it seems obvious now. It was it was great. And I have a story from it that that sort of was our "Aha" moment. 00;17;10;14 - 00;17;40;08 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. I think it was, I think it was month two, when we actually had an anesthesiologist in a CRNA name class. And I said, you know, a project I'm interested in working on is when we have M&amp;Ms or we have grand rounds. I don't know if you all noticed, but no one asks us what happened. I was the one doing the institution in the room, but everyone asked the anesthesiologist or they asked the resident about the case. 00;17;40;08 - 00;18;01;01 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. Yet I was the person actually in the case doing the work, and you should have seen the looks on people's faces around the table where the docs were like, Oh my God, what are we doing? Like, this is just is so obvious, but not to us and be able to hear that story and to see the looks of like, we got it, we have to be better. 00;18;01;03 - 00;18;20;27 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. These are the moments that make people feel like they belong somewhere, that make people feel valued. We talk about recognition and appreciation all the time, but recognition and appreciation aren't about thank you's that are about knowing that I matter and that I'm here and and I add value. So for me, that was clear what we were trying to do. 00;18;20;27 - 00;18;53;24 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. And you know, if I can share some data, we actually looked at this pre and post and on all these metrics, both APPS and physicians reported nearly 30% increase in understanding what the other was dealing with from a professional fulfillment perspective. And also they each felt better understood by the other. They said, you know, I really am beginning to believe that physicians now get what we deal with or I'm beginning to understand, or I believe that APPS understand what we're dealing with. 00;18;53;24 - 00;19;02;23 Gaurava Agarwal, M.D. And so we're really proud of that data. In some ways, I think that accomplishes some bigger picture of the type of environment we're trying to create. 00;19;02;25 - 00;19;25;12 Elisa Areapacochaga That's fabulous. I just love that it's built that connection. So, Sam, let's come back to you. Tell me just really quickly a little bit about your project to bring the and I know this is something Northwestern has worked on, bring that peer support to the APPS, because I know that it's something Northwestern and G and I have talked about it before, but I didn't realize it 00;19;25;19 - 00;19;31;12 Elisa Areapacochaga was focused on the physician community at Northwestern, not beyond that. 00;19;31;14 - 00;20;01;06 Samantha Saggese Yeah, absolutely. So just to recap, so peer to peer is our peer support program that we have at Northwestern. It's confidential, it's voluntary, and it's meant to be utilized after a provider experiences a medical error, a near miss, an adverse patient outcome. And through this program a colleague is referred either by another colleague, by a manager or by risk, or they can self-refer and it's to receive emotional support from a trained peer supporter. 00;20;01;08 - 00;20;24;26 Samantha Saggese You know, the conversation has really focused on how the provider's coping. It's not meant to dissect talent error occurred. It's not an M&amp;M. We know from the literature, it's been cited over and over that there are just significant negative psychological effects that are felt by provider hours after and during a medical error. And there tends to be a focus in the literature around how these experiences affect physicians and nurses. 00;20;24;26 - 00;20;53;24 Samantha Saggese And while they haven't really focused too much on APPS, it's not a stretch to assume that we experience similar negative emotions after these events. So through my project, we were able to survey advanced practice providers at Northwestern and we found that events are occurring at similar rates and APPs adds to the published data for physicians and nurses and APPS do experience these identical negative emotions, anxiety and depression and avoidance after enduring a medical error. 00;20;53;26 - 00;21;22;27 Samantha Saggese And so then my project focus on expanding P2P our peer support program to APS. And now we have over 20 APPs that have been trained in providing emotional first aid to their colleagues after errors. I really feel like this is essential to rebuilding provider integrity after these events and as health care providers, for all empathetic by nature, we're a natural caregivers and unfortunately, medicine at its core can often promote a culture of perfectionism and blame 00;21;22;28 - 00;21;49;05 Samantha Saggese after these events, whether they're big or small. And so our goal with P2P is to cause a cultural shift of some sort into acceptance and understanding that at the end of the day, we are only human, and a single negative event doesn't negate all the positives the provider brings to the table. And what we found is the training process itself can just be an asset to the emotional well-being of the supporter. 00;21;49;07 - 00;22;05;13 Samantha Saggese Regardless if these conversations ever take place. Just knowing that they built these skillsets can really improve the well-being of people who just volunteer to do the supporting, as well as knowing that this program is in place and it's available to those who might need it in the future. 00;22;05;15 - 00;22;36;11 Elisa Areapacochaga That sounds amazing. I love that you're continuing to bring that to more colleagues because I'm not a clinician, but I can imagine the challenge that it must be and the sense of isolation that it comes with from my previous conversations. I want to thank you both so much for joining me today and for sharing your work. And I hope Sam come back and tell us about how your new role goes in a little bit as your take on the role of the APP liaison in the Office of Well-Being. 00;22;36;19 - 00;22;38;04 Samantha Saggese Absolutely. I look forward to it. </details> </div> </div> Fri, 15 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0600 Employee Health and Wellness