Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1186182
36 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Half of nurses, physicians are burned out, study finds By Gabrielle Masson B etween 35 percent and 54 percent of U.S. nurses and physicians are burned out, a situation that won't improve until health- care organizations, educational institutions and the govern- ment all make systemic changes, according to a new report from the National Academy of Medicine. Defined by emotional exhaustion, detachment and a low sense of personal achievement, burnout can jeopardize patient care and cause clinicians to leave their jobs, the report found. Burnout is attributed to overwhelming job demands and inadequate resources, not indi- vidual mental health diagnoses. With high individual costs, such as occupational injury, alcohol abuse and suicide risk, burnout also has high social and economic costs for organizations and society. e Committee on Systems Approaches to Improve Patient Care by Supporting Clinician Well-Being, on behalf of the National Acade- my of Medicine, examined the causes and consequences of burnout, as well as interventions to support clinician well-being. An estimated one-third to one-half of U.S. clinicians experience burnout symp- toms, the study found, with medical students and residents burned out 45 percent to 60 percent of the time. Clinician burnout is rooted in workplace culture, healthcare policies and societal expectations, the report said, and individual strategies cannot sufficiently address the problem. e report gave six goals healthcare systems should have to prevent and reduce burnout: 1. Create positive work environments. Leaders should create envi- ronments that promote high-quality care, job satisfaction, and social support, while continuously monitoring and evaluating burnout. 2. Address burnout early. Positive learning environments can be de- veloped by monitoring workload, using pass-fail grading, increasing scholarship access and creating new loan repayment systems. 3. Reduce administrative burden. Standard-setting entities should identify and address sources of burnout related to laws and policies, removing those that contribute little value to patient care. 4. Improve usability and relevance of health information technol- ogy. Health IT should be user-friendly and easy to operate. 5. Support leaders and clinicians by reducing stigma. Barriers tied to obtaining support and services for alleviating burnout should be eliminated. 6. Invest in research: Federal agencies should coordinate research on clinician burnout, prioritizing identification of burnout causes for different clinicians and its implication on the workforce and pa- tient safety outcomes. "Healthcare leaders at all levels must take urgent action to uphold clinician well-being as a fundamental value that is essential to the fulfilment of their missions," Victor Dzau, MD, National Academy of Medicine president, said in the news release. n CDC modernizes 1998 infection prevention guidelines for healthcare workers By Gabrielle Masson T he CDC released an update Oct. 18 of its 1998 guidelines for infection control and prevention in healthcare settings, with new recommendations about the Americans with Disabilities Act and emergency response personnel. The updated guidelines, intended for healthcare leaders and staff, apply to a wider range of healthcare settings, including hospital-based, long-term care and outpatient locations. New topics include administrative support and resource allocation for occupational health services, along with the use of performance measures for tracking infection con- trol efforts and guiding quality improvement initiatives. Updated recommendations address leadership, communi- cation, assessment and reduction of risk among providers, medical evaluations, training and education, immunization programs, and management of provider health records. n Steroids effective treatment for vaping illnesses, physicians say By Gabrielle Masson M any physicians are using steroids to treat patients with vaping-related illnesses, as health officials believe the sickness may stem from inflamma- tion or injury caused by chemicals in the lungs, according to The Wall Street Journal. When patients first started visiting hospitals with symptoms of coughing, chest pain, gastrointestinal issues and fever this summer, physicians commonly diagnosed them with pneumonia. Most scans revealed hazy, white areas in the lungs, but no infection. Antibiotics, the standard treatment for pneumonia, were unsuccessful at treating the illness. Physicians from Milwaukee-based Children's Hospital of Wisconsin were the first to link vaping to the condition. They began giving patients high doses of steroids, which reduced inflammation. Michael Meyer, MD, medical direc- tor of CHOW's pediatric intensive care unit, told ABC af- filiate WISN 12 News that all 17 children treated for the vaping-related illness at the hospital were discharged. The hospital plans to publish guidelines on how to care for patients with vaping-related illnesses. The specific cause of the illnesses is still unknown. In- vestigators suspect a new chemical may have been introduced to vaping products, thereby triggering the outbreak. n