Physician burnout remains one of the most pressing issues in health care today. And with nearly half of all doctors reporting at least one symptom of burnout, promoting physician well-being is a top priority. To ensure the sustainability of health care, prioritizing physician well-being must be more than just an initiative—it must be a core value embedded into the very fabric of health systems and organizations. 

When Amy A. Jibilian, MD, took a step down from clinical practice in 2021 to head into “pseudo retirement,” the opportunity to serve as chief wellness officer at Lehigh Valley Health Network—which is part of Jefferson Health—was presented to her.

Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) is a member of the AMA Health System Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine. 

“I thought it would be an amazing opportunity for me to step into a role that would provide me with the potential to have a positive influence on the health and well-being of our physicians and nonphysician providers,” Dr. Jibilian, who is also a pediatrician at Lehigh Valley Health Network, said during a HealthLeaders webinar sponsored by the AMA.

Amy A. Jibilian, MD

“As a pediatrician for 30 years, I experienced the physical, emotional and mental impact of the stresses and challenges that physicians face on a daily basis and wanted to be able to try to make a difference for my colleagues and future physicians,” she added. 

During the webinar, Dr. Jibilian shared how there needs to be a process at the health care system level to remove barriers for physicians to seek help and other mental health needs. 

One of the biggest barriers to physicians seeking help is the cultural stigma of mental health. Many physicians fear that seeking help will jeopardize their careers, which is why Dr. Jibilian emphasized the need for cultural change where leaders reinforce that “it’s OK not to be OK.” 

“Part of our temperament and part of our training for years, starting back in medical school, is that we are supposed to be strong, that we’re supposed to be superhuman, that we should be able to handle anything that comes our way,” she said. “And that if we start to recognize that we’re struggling with work, we think: Oh, I’m a failure. This shouldn’t be happening to me.”

“It starts with our internal voice, so to combat that internal voice we need external voices that are coming alongside our physicians and saying … it’s OK to need and ask for help,” said Dr. Jibilian, noting “this should ideally come from the highest level of leadership, not just our behavioral health services, not just your chief wellness officer, but we as a whole institution and all health care organizations bring this out to light and say this is something that we all struggle with at times.”

It is also important for health care organizations to eliminate stigmatizing language from licensure and credentialing applications, a policy change already championed by the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation and the AMA’s Joy in Medicine™ Health System Recognition Program. 

Another big concern is confidentiality “if we are seeking help within our own health care system,” Dr. Jibilian said. While most health care organizations either have an employee-assistance program or peer support, “physicians are hesitant to seek help within their own networks because even if they’re told everything’s confidential, they don’t really believe it.”

For health systems to work “alongside external partners that could provide therapy in a confidential manner with 24/7 access is really critical,” she said. “We have embarked on that journey at LVHN, and we are starting to see people take advantage of this. … We’re lowering some of that barrier now and people are now being a little bit more willing to ask for help.”

It is also important for health systems and organizations to “develop a structure, a system within their organization to address physician well-being,” Dr. Jibilian said. That means “creating a wellness committee, a well-being council with leadership involved.”

This is also where health systems can create a chief wellness officer or a similar position within the organization to advocate for systemic change.

“An organization saying this is very important and we’re going to attend to this and we’re going to start to put some time, energy and money into this is a great first step,” she said. Then, “ideally, an organization integrates that chief wellness officer or similar person into the highest levels of leadership so that person can be carrying a banner that says … well-being of our physicians is a stop priority.”

As the leader in physician well-being, the AMA is reducing physician burnout by removing administrative burdens and providing real-world solutions to help doctors rediscover the Joy in Medicine™.

The standard of care in physician well-being recognition

Institutions in this article have been honored by the Joy in Medicine™ Health System Recognition Program.

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While the focus should be on systemic changes, Dr. Jibilian emphasized that it is also important to help “physicians to prioritize their self-care, which also comes out of the work” to promote well-being. 

One way organizations can help is by reducing work outside of work, such as charting and documentation. Reducing documentation burden can help improve job satisfaction for physicians.

Another way is to encourage the use of paid time off because “there’s a direct link with people not taking enough time off and burnout,” Dr. Jibilian said. “We know people need nutrition, they need sleep, they need time with their friends and family. They need to be able to invest in other things that give them meaning. It’s tough, but this is something we can do at the system level.”

Health systems must also foster a culture of recognition and appreciation. While physician-appreciation events are beneficial, smaller, daily acknowledgments from leadership can have an even greater impact.

“Receiving an email or a verbal ‘thank you’ for a job well done can completely shift a physician’s morale,” Dr. Jibilian noted. Unfortunately, an AMA exclusive survey found that only 50% of physicians feel valued by their organization, indicating a significant gap in workplace culture.

“It needs to go down to that day-to-day personal interaction where a team leader is having on their radar that opportunity to say thanks to one of their colleagues,” she said. “Every day we all show up as great physicians, but it’s not recognized. So, if there’s a way that we can start to promote that positive … conversation, that goes a long way.”

“For myself, whenever I have received an email from a leader that said, ‘I heard what a great job you did with this patient,’ it boosts my spirits and my energy so much,” Dr. Jibilian said. “Those small moments of communication are important.”

Another way to show physicians they are valued, and that organizations care, is through listening campaigns. At LVHN, “we’ve done it through about four to five departments now and it’s very interesting how we can see the culture of each department impact on the efficacy of a listening campaign,” Dr. Jibilian said. “It’s a great forum and it really depends on who’s in that room with the group of people and the tenor we set in terms of this is a safe space to provide feedback.”

“The challenge is then taking that to the senior and executive level leadership, having them hear what people have shared and provide the response,” she said. “This is a small picture of what’s happening on the grand scale in that what we’ve seen is this separation developing between leadership and front-line workers.”

This is important because a physician who feels valued, heard and supported will always be in a better position to care for their patients and truly experience joy in their work. The time for meaningful change is now.

AMA STEPS Forward^® open-access toolkits and playbooks offer innovative strategies that allow physicians and their staff to thrive in the new health care environment. These resources can help you prevent burnout, create the organizational foundation for joy in medicine and improve practice efficiency.