Institutions nationwide are acting to address urgent concerns about the well-being and mental health of health care professionals. One critical step in supporting well-being within a health care organization is to develop wellness initiatives, and another is to identify an individual (or teams) to oversee wellness initiatives.
This report presents data from two recent surveys of health care professionals highlighting common elements of wellness programming and describing the roles of the well-being champions who lead and support wellness efforts. The report provides new data, insights, and recommendations to help institutions establish and continue to develop wellness leaders and initiatives. Based on these findings, the report outlines 10 recommendations to help organizations promote a culture of well-being.
Key findings:
- A large majority of institutions have at least one wellness program, but the breadth of those programs varies widely.
- About half of respondents reported their institution had programs for all health professional populations (learners, faculty, and staff).
- Respondents with programs that served multiple audiences reported having well-being champions at different levels throughout their organization; just over half reported having an organization-level well-being champion, such as a chief wellness officer.
- Many well-being champions have no formal training and no full-time-equivalent allocation for their wellness role.
- Less than a third of all respondents reported that their organization’s wellness programs had formal results or outcomes demonstrating efficacy.