Becker's Hospital Review

40 Executive Briefing TeamHealth has also recognized the importance of educating and empowering leaders. The goal is to provide leaders with the skills needed to identify when clinicians are struggling. Early discovery of warning signs leads to opportunities for early intervention. TeamHealth has trained every clinician leader on skills like well-being rounding and emotional intelligence, as well as the soft skills of leadership. "We have educated leaders about peer support, critical conversations and the importance of providing support after critical incidents," Dr. Owen said. "If one of our facilities is struggling with a patient surge or loss in the healthcare community, we hold a webinar to debrief and share successful coping skills. Relating our stories about how to cope while maintaining a healthy work-life balance has been powerful." Additionally, one of TeamHealth's Resiliency Committee Group Chairs, Dr. Richard Juman, has been conducting regular wellness lectures with valuable education and insight on various topics. In 2021, "breaking the stigma" is the main focus for TeamHealth's well-being program. The organization is investing significant time and effort to remove barriers and ensure clinicians have access to mental healthcare, counseling or therapy as needed. "At a time when our focus could have wandered, TeamHealth has maintained a daily focus on supporting front-line healthcare professionals in an unprecedented way," Dr. Owen said. "I think we have touched every clinician in some way. I'm proud of the support that TeamHealth has provided and proud to be part of an organization that prioritizes wellness." Organization-wide efforts can have a profound effect on physician well-being Healthcare organizations have learned a great deal about clinician well-being during COVID-19. Although there is much more to learn, healthcare leaders can take action today to address clinician wellness. The first step is to assess and acknowledge the need for support. "If you're not recognizing the need, then you're not investing the time that it takes for improvement," Dr. Owen said. The next step is to empower leaders with skills like leadership rounding and techniques for personal connection. With that foundation, organizations must create targeted interventions that address clinical well-being, cultivate community and strengthen a healthy culture. The goal is to harness the power of leadership and model the culture that the organization wants to cultivate. Attention from the highest levels of the organization is the key to making progress. The last recommendation is to promote work-life balance, resiliency and self-care. A best practice is providing relevant resources that clinicians can refer to when they need them most. Once the pandemic is behind us, the need for aggressive, sustained and intentional efforts to improve the well-being of healthcare clinicians will remain. The current heightened awareness about the need for clinician wellness, however, can be used in a productive manner moving forward. "Clinician well-being is a shared responsibility for individual physicians and the organizations in which they work," Dr. Owen said. "Without an engaged physician workforce, healthcare organizations can't meet their institutional objectives, achieve their missions and promote workplace satisfaction." Conclusion Healthcare organizations that are committed to clinician wellness take a comprehensive view of clinicians' emotional and physical health and all the factors that influence those things. As Dr. Owen noted, wellness is one of those things that "you know it when you see it." It's easy to tell when someone is thriving, not simply surviving. While COVID-19 has created massive healthcare challenges on many levels, it has also uncovered opportunities to innovate and address issues related to clinician well-being. "When I think about the impact of the pandemic, I feel that during this most challenging time, we've also seen some of the most amazing times in terms of collegiality among front- line healthcare workers, support from the community and hospital leadership and the efforts that hospital systems have put forth to innovate," Dr. Owen said. "It's been an honor and privilege to be part of that." n "If you're not recognizing the need, then you're not investing the time that it takes for improvement." Dr. Heather Owen, MD Chief Clinical Officer for Emergency Medicine, TeamHealth

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