U.S. Clinical Wellbeing Study

The U.S. Clinician Wellbeing Study (CWS) is concurrent research conducted alongside the Magnet4Europe collaborative research project of international scope and significance, led by the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, Dr. Linda Aiken and Dr. Matthew McHugh, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The CWS involves 60 Magnet hospitals across the U.S. as partners. It is the first-large scale evaluation of the mental health and well-being of hospital nurses and physicians to look at the value of positive work environments for clinician well-being and patient safety and quality of care. All 60 hospitals agreed to a common research protocol and instruments in a multi-center study to explore how Magnet hospitals could further improve work environments.

El Camino Health's Co-Primary Investigators Lori Story, Marissa Panem, and Caroline Stewart have conducted the study. Mentorship was provided by Vivian Low. The research team delivered online confidential surveys to clinicians (RNs, APNs, CNS, MDs and PAs) across the enterprise, who care for inpatients on adult medical and surgical services, adult critical care, and the emergency department, all areas that research has shown to have higher clinician burnout. Consortium meetings were held with the collaborative to discuss study implementation and results. Aggregate data indicates some key takeaways to explore. Effective interventions that were valued allowed for more time and resources to provide clinical care, opportunities to listen and respond to staff concerns, improving staffing, and reducing time on documentation. The next stage of the study is consideration of potential implications of these results for an action plan to improve clinician well- being, and joy at work.