Understanding what leaders can do to facilitate healthcare workers' feeling valued: improving our knowledge of the strongest burnout mitigator.

Feeling valued is a striking mitigator of burnout yet how to facilitate healthcare workers (HCWs) feeling valued has not been adequately studied. This study discovered factors relating to HCWs feeling valued so leaders can mitigate burnout and retain their workforce. The Coping with COVID-19 survey, initiated in March 2020 by the American Medical Association, was distributed to 208 US healthcare organisations. Of the respondents, 37 685 physicians, advanced practice clinicians, nurses, and other clinical staff answered questions that assessed burnout, intent to leave and whether they felt valued.Quantitative analysis looked at odds of burnout and intent to leave among the highest versus lowest feeling valued (FV) groups. Open-ended comments provided by 5559 respondents with high or low sense of FV were analysed to understand aspects of work life that contributed to FV. Of 37 685 respondents, 45% felt valued; HCWs who felt highly valued had 8.3 times lower odds of burnout and 10.2 lower odds of intent to leave than those who did not feel valued at all. Qualitative data identified six themes associated with FV: (1) physical safety, (2) compensation and pandemic-related finances, (3) transparent and frequent communication, (4) effective teamwork, (5) empathetic and respectful leaders, and (6) organisational support. This US study demonstrates that FV correlates with burnout and intent to leave, yet only 45% of HCWs feel valued. Six themes link to interventions leaders can follow to facilitate HCWs FV and potentially reduce burnout and increase retention for a challenged healthcare workforce.

Informations de copyright

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Competing interests: MS receives support for research and writing on burnout understanding and prevention through his place of employment (Hennepin Healthcare) by the American Medical Association and Optum Office for Provider Advancement (OPA). ML is supported through his place of employment (Hennepin Healthcare) by the American Medical Association, American College of Physicians, Optum Office for Provider Advancement (OPA), Essentia Health Systems, Gillette Children’s Hospital, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, California AHEC system and American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation for burnout prevention projects. NN and CS are employed by the American Medical Association. JOJ is a senior physician advisor at the American Medical Association. RB was paid as a consultant by the AMA for his work on this project.