APPENDIX A
Background on the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative and National Plan Process
Established in 2017, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience (the Collaborative) has made important contributions to address the burnout crisis by aligning over 100 key players within the U.S. health system and galvanizing a growing network of more than 200 organizations committed to reversing trends in clinician burnout. The Collaborative has made great strides in raising the visibility of clinician anxiety, burnout, depression, stress, and suicide, as well as improving baseline understanding of challenges to clinician well-being. The Collaborative also continues to advance evidence-based, multidisciplinary solutions to improve patient care by caring for the caregiver.
PHASE I (2017 TO 2020): BUILDING A COMMUNITY AROUND CLINICIAN WELL-BEING
At the outset, the Collaborative focused on creating a community for stakeholders to discuss clinician well-being and share ideas. Working groups identified evidence-based strategies to engage leadership, break the culture of silence, organize promising practices and metrics, address workload and workflow, and act on recommendations to improve clinician well-being. Products and activities of the Collaborative include an online knowledge hub, a series of NAM Perspectives papers, an art exhibit, and a conceptual model that reflects the domains affecting clinician well-being (all
materials listed are available at: https://nam.edu/initiatives/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/).
PHASE II (2021 TO 2022): CREATING A NATIONAL PLAN FOR HEALTH WORKFORCE WELL-BEING
Informed by discussions with multidisciplinary experts and stakeholders during COVID-19, the Collaborative reflected on how to capitalize on the lessons learned and opportunities to strengthen workforce well-being. Since 2021, the Collaborative has been organized into three Working Groups:
- The Working Group on Implementing Tools to Improve Clinician Well-Being aims to catalyze the uptake of evidence-based practices and the implementation of tools to support health care leaders in improving clinician well-being on the frontlines of care.
- The Working Group on Mobilizing National Stakeholders for Clinician Well-Being aims to create a national strategy for clinician well-being by mobilizing and sustaining the engagement, resources, and accountability of key health care stakeholders.
- The Working Group on Navigating the Impacts of COVID-19 on Clinician Well-Being aims to support the health care workforce during the pandemic and to apply emerging lessons from COVID-19.
In November 2021, members of the Collaborative’s Steering Committee met to identify priority areas to advance health care worker well-being. The Steering Committee participated in six meetings between December 2021 and May 2022 to lead the conceptualization, outlining, drafting, and editing of the National Plan, with input from all Collaborative members. A draft of the National Plan was made publicly available for any member of the public to provide feedback in May 2022. The final text of the National Plan is the culmination of committee deliberations, consideration of public input, and completion of the NAM peer review process.
