Healthy Health Systems Spotlight: Penn Medicine Princeton Health
“Our [aim] is to address workplace wellness, physician burnout, and resiliency among our staff,” says Craig Gronczewski, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Penn Medicine Princeton Health. Penn Medicine Princeton Health began its efforts to improve worker well-being and satisfaction in late 2019. The team was interdisciplinary, with physicians, nursing leaders, and other non-medical staff. “Burnout impacts every healthcare worker at times; it’s a system-wide concern,” says Dr. Gronczewski. He emphasizes the need to approach the work with structure: regularly convening their task forces, setting timelines, and measuring to goals.
The Penn Medicine Princeton Health Team rolled out the Mayo Clinic’s Well-Being Index as their ongoing measure of physician and workforce well-being. “It’s a proven system and our team can answer questions in under 3 minutes on their phones,” says Dr. Gronczewski. The team seeks trends and works with Human Resources (HR) and department leads to act on their findings. In one example, the team identified a hotspot of distress: Obstetrics and Gynecology. They rolled out a task force to improve physician experience, both introducing a laborist model of care and changes to the call and break rooms.
Penn Medicine Princeton Health was uniquely prepared to utilize the same support structure to help their staff navigate the early days of the COVID19 pandemic. “Early on, one of our own physicians was ill and on a ventilator,” says Dr. Gronczewski, explaining how colleagues were extremely concerned about their colleague who had been working alongside them just weeks before. “The conversations around mental health and personnel impact led us to add a chaplain to rounds.”
The team also utilizes COBALT, a digital platform for mental well-being from the Penn Center of Innovation. COBALT triages needs across Penn Medicine’s 40,000 employees and connects staff to resources in real time. Engagement ranges from curated podcast episodes to live chat and talk therapy.
Formal survey efforts such as the Well-Being Index aren’t the only motivation for change. “We are always approachable. I get feedback in the hallways or the lunchroom,” says Anish Sheth, MD, Gastroenterology Section Chief, who with Dr. Gronczewski has been a driving force in addressing workplace wellness. “Well-being and its improvements are in my DNA.”. He cites upcoming modifications to the physician breakroom opening another avenue for feedback. Feedback is deeply personal to Princeton Health, which also began hosting Schwartz Rounds, during which the multidisciplinary team that has treated a case will reflect on their experiences together. “Schwartz Rounds are a way not only to decompress about the challenges of being a care provider, but they are a way to reorient to the reason that you went into the profession in the first place,” says Hospitalist Medicine Section Chief Lauren Hogshire, MD.
The team is looking forward to additional programming to support their staff. “Satisfaction often dips for mid-career physicians. We want to work with them to learn what they are passionate about, and what inspires them. We want to give them time to pursue that,” says Dr. Sheth. This continued investment in the motivation and whole well-being of their staff exemplifies the Penn Medicine Princeton Health approach.
“Workplace wellness is here to stay, and there’s a staffing crisis out there. I would advise other organizations that addressing physician wellness and resiliency means broadening that work to the entire healthcare environment.”
Guest Author: Corinne Stroum.
Corinne Stroum is a subject matter expert on the data footprint of healthcare: clinical or claims-based, she is experienced with structured data, patient experience surveys, socio-economic factors and social determinants, and unstructured notes.
The Sharp Index Awards are a yearlong celebration of the good news in healthcare. Winners are nominated throughout the year for their work. Dr. Bhatt was nominated as a leader in Health Equity.
There is much work to do, and healthcare healing involves everyone. This year, winners were announced at HealthIMPACT East in New York City.