This episode examines clinician burnout, a public health issue propelled into the spotlight by the Covid-19 pandemic. Up to 54 percent of nurses, physicians, and other clinicians experience prolonged, occupational stress. They suffer exhaustion, low job satisfaction, lack of achievement, and other consequences that not only compromise their personal wellbeing, but also the care they provide to their patients.

Host Heather Howard, a professor at Princeton University and former New Jersey Commissioner of Health and Senior Services, explores the drivers of clinician burnout along with the rising costs with Dr. Bryant Adibe, Sugarman Practitioner in Residence at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs, and Dr. Wayne Jonas, a practicing family physician and president of the Healing Works Foundation.

Their conversation addresses widespread dissatisfaction among health care workers, absenteeism, staffing shortages, and other repercussions that threaten access to safe, quality health care in the United States and beyond. They talk about reducing clinician burnout through a systems approach that leverages actionable data, and highlight a recent summit that united scholars, health care providers, and policymakers in the collaborative pursuit of clinical wellbeing.

Learn more about the “Systems Summit on Clinical Wellbeing,” co-sponsored by the American Medical Association (AMA), Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), Healing Works Foundation, and Princeton University’s Center for Health and Wellbeing and the Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy. 

Read related articles authored by Dr. Bryant Adibe:
Clinician Wellness is an Operations Issue
Clinician Wellbeing: Challenges and Opportunities

Learn more about the Healing Works Foundation.