U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, has released new guidelines on taking care of the healthcare workforce as he warned the public about the threat of healthcare worker burnout.
In a May 23 tweet he released the new advisory and wrote, "health workers have long had our back—it’s time for us to have theirs."
The advisory contains a briefing on the prevalence and effects of burnout in the healthcare industry as well as a breakdown of actions to be taken across a range of specialties in the healthcare industry including health systems, policymakers, payers and the public. The actions call for structural changes to the industry, workplace policies that can be implemented and highlight investments that can be made to alleviate worker burnout.
"As we transition towards recovery, we have a moral obligation to address the long-standing crisis of burnout, exhaustion, and moral distress across the health community," reads Dr. Murthy's comments in the advisory. "We owe health workers far more than our gratitude. We owe them an urgent debt of action. This Surgeon General’s Advisory helps show what's needed, and how we can do it."
Read the full advisory here.