Implementing a Protocol to Address Risk for Burnout Among Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The magnitude for potential burnout is enormous. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Addiction and Mental Health, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported diagnoses of psychiatric and substance use disorders are at an all-time high for physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and psychologists.

OBJECTIVE:

Reduce the potential for burnout among outpatient mental health clinicians and staff.

METHOD:

Develop an agency wellness protocol utilizing evidence-based interventions to reduce the potential for clinician and staff burnout.

RESULTS:

Survey data indicated low to moderate levels of burnout and depersonalization. Staff and clinician recommendations provided during feedback sessions were incorporated with evidence-based interventions to establish a wellness protocol.

CONCLUSION:

Implementing evidence-based interventions in a wellness protocol may reduce the potential for clinician and staff burnout.

Keywords

stress staff issues relationships roles self-management safety resilience

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Medical Association. (2016). Physician burnout improve physician satisfaction and patient outcomes. https://edhub.ama-assn.org/steps-forward/module/2702509

American Nurses Association. (2014). Nurse fatigue. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/nursing-excellence/official-position-statements/id/addressing-nurse-fatigue-to-promote-safety-and-health/

Awa

Plaumann

Walter

(2010). Burnout prevention: A review of intervention programs. Patient Education and Counseling, 78(2), 184-190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2009.04.008

Center for Addiction and Mental Health. (2017, December 1). Understanding of quality of care (the relationship between resident burnout and safety-related and acceptability-related quality of healthcare): A systematic literature review. Health & Medicine Week, 127.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). Health, United States, 2016. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus16.pdf

Cohen

(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.

County Health Rankings and Roadmap. (2018). Talbot, Maryland. http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/app/maryland/2018/rankings/talbot/county/outcomes/overall/snapshot

Dyrbye

Tait

Shanafelt

Sinsky

Cipriano

Bhatt

Ommaya

West

Meyers

(2017). Burnout among health care professionals: A call to explore and address this underrecognized threat to safe, high-quality care (Discussion paper). NAM Perspectives. https://nam.edu/burnout-among-health-care-professionals-a-call-toexplore-and-address-this-underrecognized-threat-to-safe-high-quality-care/. https://doi.org/10.31478/201707b

Garcia

McGeary

Finley

Ketchum

McGeary

Peterson

(2015). Burnout among psychiatrists in the Veterans Health Administration. Burnout Research, 2(4),108-114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.burn.2015.10.001

10.

Gauthier

Meyer

Grefe

Gold

(2015). An on-the-job mindfulness-based intervention for pediatric ICU nurses: A pilot. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 30(2), 402-409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedn.2014.10.005

11.

Irving

(2014). Policies and procedures for healthcare organizations: A risk management perspective. Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare. https://www.psqh.com/analysis/policies-and-procedures-for-healthcare-organizations-a-risk-management-perspective/

12.

Johnson

Hall

L. H.

Berzins

Baker

Melling

Thompson

(2018). Mental healthcare staff well-being and burnout: A narrative review of trends, causes, implications, and recommendations for future interventions. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 27(1), 20-32. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12416

13.

Luther

Gearhart

Fukui

Morse

Rollins

A. L.

Salyers

M. P.

(2017). Working overtime in community mental health: Associations with clinician burnout and perceived quality of care. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 40(2), 252-259. https://doi.org/10.1037/prj0000234

14.

Maslach

Jackson

S. E.

(1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behavior, 2(2), 99-113. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030020205

15.

Morse

Salyers

Rollins

DeVita

Pfahler

(2012). Burnout in mental health services: A review of the problem and its remediation. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, 39(5), 341-352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-011-0352-1

16.

National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2015). State Mental Health Legislation 2015: Trends, themes and effective practices. http://www.nami.org/About-NAMI/Publications-Reports/Public-Policy-Reports/StateMental-Health-Legislation-2015/NAMI-StateMentalHealthLegislation2015.pdf

17.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2020). Overdose death rates. https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

18.

Ossege

J. M.

Sears

R. W.

(2017). The resilient mental health practice: Nourishing your business, your clients, and yourself. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315673035

19.

Shively

(2017). Burnout: Managing staff burnout and vicarious trauma in the workplace. Corrections Today, 79(6), 44.

20.

Stillwell

S. B.

Fineout-Overholt

Melnyk Mazurek

Williamson

K. M.

(2010). Evidence based practice, step by step: Asking the clinical question: A key step in evidence-based practice. American Journal of Nursing, 110(3), 58-61. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NAJ.0000368959.11129.79

21.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2015). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-FFR1-2015/NSDUH-FFR1-2015/NSDUH-FFR1-2015.pdf

22.

Turgoose

Maddox

(2017). Predictors of compassion fatigue in mental health professionals: A narrative review. Traumatology, 23(2), 172-185. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000116

23.

West

C. P.

Dyrbye

L. N.

Erwin

P. J.

Shanafelt

T. D.

(2016). Interventions to prevent and reduce physician burnout: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet, 388(10057), 2272-2281. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31279-X

24.

Wiederhold

B. K.

Cipresso

Pizzioli

Wiederhold

Riva

(2018). Intervention for physician burnout: A systematic review. Open Medicine, 13(1), 253-263. https://doi.org/10.1515/med-2018-0039

25.

Wood

A. E.

Prins

Bush

N. E.

Hsia

J. F.

Bourn

L. E.

Earley

M. D.

Walser

R. D.

Ruzek

(2017). Reduction of burnout in mental health care providers using the provider resilience mobile application. Community Mental Health Journal, 53(4), 452-459. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-016-0076-5

26.

World Health Organization. (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/