J&J Helping Health Systems Address Clinician Burnout and Increase Employee Engagement

The Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies* announced new Healthy Workforce offerings** designed to help meet the needs of health systems struggling with clinician burnout and excessive stress. Developed specifically for healthcare organizations, the offerings are designed to increase employee engagement and reduce burnout through comprehensive employee engagement strategies that can lead to increased vitality, improved sense of purpose, and greater health and well-being for employees.
 
Clinicians constantly deal with the pressures associated with being on the front line of delivering care to patients. These pressures, combined with other administrative and personal responsibilities, can lead to long periods of high stress and burnout. Recent studies show that 54 percent of physiciansⁱ and 70 percent of nursesⁱⁱ report burnout in their current positions. Research also finds that medical errors can triple when there are high levels of burnout,^iii,iv and disengaged employees are two times more likely to leave an organization.^v
 
“Clinician burnout is currently a public health epidemic that is threatening the quality and safety of healthcare,” said Bernadette Melnyk, Ph.D., R.N., APRN-CNP, FAANP, FNAP, FAAN, vice president of Health Promotion, University chief wellness officer and dean of the College of Nursing at The Ohio State University, who led a study on one of the Healthy Workforce offerings at her institution. “Burnout and disengagement can lead to medical errors, substantial staff turnover and have an adverse impact on a health system’s overall culture. The unique Healthy Workforce offerings provide an evidence-based, vital approach to support today’s healthcare teams and promote an environment of engagement and wellbeing that can help improve both clinician and organizational outcomes.”
 
Health Systems and clinicians are starting to see the benefits of addressing burnout and its impact on engagement.
 
“As physicians, we’re taught that work is a marathon and we must pace ourselves. But extended periods of high workloads or stress is not sustainable and can lead to burnout and energy loss that profoundly affects our personal and professional lives,” said Eric F. Stamler, M.D. FACOG, a practicing OBGYN in Cincinnati, Ohio, and participant in a Human Performance Institute course, one of the Healthy Workforce offerings. “The course helped me refocus on what’s important and gain the skills to achieve my goals—a positive, powerful and transformative experience.”

Healthy Workforce draws from capabilities with demonstrated results from across all three sectors of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies and is informed by an evidence-based framework for employee engagement, to help health systems create a comprehensive strategy, programs and policies. The framework focuses on four critical categories and are executed through the lens of the individual, team and leadership:
 

• Health and well-being—Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute*** uses solutions to help drive employee engagement and reduce burnout so individuals, teams and organizations can perform to their full potential. Programs help people transform the way they approach energy management by teaching them how to assess and manage stress in a new way.
• Interpersonal relationships—Johnson & Johnson HealthCaring Conversations is a communication skills training that includes a few different options for deployment, designed to help healthcare professionals increase patient engagement and improve self-management. 
• Organizational environment—Johnson & Johnson Culture of Health Resource Guide is a reference tool to share ideas and best practices based on the activities, policies and procedures implemented within the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies that have helped drive its robust, award-winning employee engagement.
• Professional fulfillment—Johnson & Johnson Institute harnesses the size, reach, collective resources and passion of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies to support the professional growth and development of those who care for others. Through its 24 centers on five continents, the Johnson & Johnson Institute hosts more than 125,000 healthcare professionals globally each year to share educational options that suit various learning preferences and schedules across multiple specialties and hundreds of procedures.

 
“Our Healthy Workforce offerings are supported through CareAdvantage from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, a unique customer engagement approach that helps build healthier systems to deliver healthier outcomes,” said Melinda Thiel, vice president, Health System Value Transformation, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies. “We work together using a structured approach to define customer needs and then develop tailored offerings that leverage our broad capabilities. In the end, we implement a plan of action to deliver results and measurable impact.”
 
As the world’s most comprehensive medical devices business, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies are building on a century of experience, merging science and technology, to shape the future of health and benefit even more people around the world. With its breadth, depth and reach across surgery, orthopaedics, vision and interventional solutions, the firm is working to profoundly change the way care is delivered. 
 
* Comprising the surgery, orthopaedics, vision and interventional businesses within the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices segment.
 
Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc. (JJHCS) provides contracting, supply chain, business services, and strategic solutions to customers and commercial intermediaries of U.S.-based Johnson & Johnson companies, including hospital systems, health plans, distributors, wholesalers, purchasing organizations, government payer programs, and U.S. government healthcare institutions. JJHCS also engages with customers to provide streamlined supply chain services for its products that seamlessly integrate with customer operations, address shared evolving market challenges to value-based care, and develop innovative solutions that improve patient care and access.
 
** Healthy Workforce and CareAdvantage from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies are provided as fee-for-service offerings through Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc.
 
*** Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute is a division of Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions Inc.
 
References
ⁱ https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/physicians-and-burnout-its-getting-worse/
ⁱⁱ https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/human-capital-and-risk/survey-70-of-nurses-report-burnout-in-current-position.html
ⁱⁱⁱ https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2018/07/medical-errors-may-stem-more-from-physician-burnout.html
^iv https://news.gallup.com/poll/20629/nurse-engagement-key-reducing-medical-errors.aspx
^v https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2017/09/21/employee-engagement