ANA joins National Academy of Medicine call to explore and address burnout

The U.S. health care system is rapidly changing in an effort to deliver better care, improve health and lower costs. While many of these changes positively impact the health of the country, they also add a lot of pressure on health care professionals. Excessive workloads and inefficiencies in documentation are commonplace, leading to high levels of burnout in clinicians, including nurses. In fact, 35 percent of hospital nurses experience high levels of emotional exhaustion.

Research shows that burnout leads to increased medical errors, decreased patient satisfaction, greater turnover and reduction in work effort, and higher health care costs.

The American Nurses Association, represented by President Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, is among 20 professional and educational organizations committed to the National Academy of Medicine’s initiative to address burnout. Cipriano wrote about this initiative in an American Nurse Today article, “Reducing stress to promote clinician well-being.”

A new National Academy of Medicine discussion paper identifies high-priority research principles to further understanding of the factors and implications of clinician burnout and ways to best support health-care workers.