The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience is working urgently to develop a National Plan for health workforce well-being. The draft plan will be released in May 2022 for public input and builds on almost six years of collective work among 200 Clinician Well-Being Collaborative members and network organizations.

NAM President Victor Dzau, co-chair of the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative, said, “It is critical for us to have a coordinated plan at the national level to help shift U.S. health care from the current reality of a workforce shortage and burnout crisis to a future where every health worker is able to experience joy in their workplace and knows that they are valued. The NAM is poised with clear next steps to work with leaders of health care organizations and educational institutions for health professionals, policymakers, health IT companies, payers, regulators, associations, and others involved to cultivate a health system to support our care providers and optimize their well-being.”

The Clinician Well-Being Collaborative’s work prior to and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic recognizes the challenges facing health workers as systemic, complex, and longstanding. Furthermore, the immense strains of COVID-19 on health workers have led many to experience burnout or moral injury and consequently, leave or consider leaving the profession. If the right lessons are learned from the pandemic, however, these challenges can be addressed. Therefore, the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative will provide a National Plan for collective action to achieve health workforce well-being at this critical juncture for the U.S. health system.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, co-chair of the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative, who has made well-being and burnout in the health worker community a priority as he serves as the Nation’s Doctor, commented, “Even before the COVID-19 crisis began, our health workforce had to meet extraordinary and overwhelming challenges. As we now rebuild and recover from the pandemic, we owe health workers a debt of action. I’m grateful to the National Academy of Medicine for recognizing this, and for their leadership through the National Plan for our health workforce, because if we fail to address burnout and ensure health workers have the support and resources they need, then the consequences will be felt by everyone who relies on the health care system.”

The National Plan will coordinate collective action across priority areas, including 1) positive work and learning environments and culture, 2) measurement, assessment, strategies, and research of well-being, 3) mental health and stigma, 4) compliance, regulatory, and policy barriers for health workers’ daily work, 5) effective technology tools, 6) effects of COVID-19 on the health workforce, and 7) recruitment of the next generation.

Register for a public input event on Friday, May 20: bit.ly/NationalPlanInputEvent. For more information, visit nam.edu/NationalPlan. Join our listserv to receive updates.

The Clinician Well-Being Collaborative is a network of expert volunteers and leaders committed to reversing trends in health worker burnout. Collaborative co-chairs include Dr. Dzau, Dr. Murthy, Darrell Kirch, President Emeritus of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and Thomas Nasca, President and CEO of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. For more information on the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative, visit nam.edu/CW.

For questions, contact [email protected].