Improving care delivery, patient safety and nurse staffing are the three most important issues nurses and physicians say management can take steps to improve high-burnout rates among clinicians, according to a study published June 7 in JAMA.
Rather than focusing on wellness and resilience programs, clinicians say addressing issues in their daily workflow and with patient care should be prioritized to maximize retention efforts, the University of Pennsylvania researchers found.
Their study collected data from a survey of 15,738 nurses and 5,312 physicians from 60 different Magnet designated hospitals. In the data, 47 percent of nurses and 32 percent of physicians reported high-burnout, which was also associated with high turnover rates.
While both physicians and nurses said they want management to address issues of care delivery and nurse staffing, 42 percent of physicians and 46 percent of nurses reported they lack confidence in management to do so.
On top of that, less than 10 percent of clinicians said they feel their workplace is joyful. In fact, 20 percent of physicians and 34 percent of nurses described their work environment as poor and 12 percent and 26 percent, respectively rated their hospitals unfavorably on patient safety efforts.
"Clinicians want action by management to address insufficient nurse staffing, insufficient clinician control over workload, and poor work environments; they're less interested in wellness programs and resilience training," researchers wrote.