1/ Welcome to Edition 313 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday! Today, the cost of poor work control among US physicians, a new paper from @lisarotenstein.bsky.social et al. Estimating the Cost of Poor Work Control Among Physicians in the United States www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S002...

5/ From June 25, the AMA STEPS forward resources (although these may now be paywalled, sorry if that’s the case) x.com/ColinWestMDP...

4/ From June 18, a look back at prior threads on an OG well-being study, Program Director burnout, and more x.com/ColinWestMDP...

3/ From June 11, the last 5 of 10 principles to advance occupational well-being in health care organizations x.com/ColinWestMDP...

2/ From June 4, the first 5 of 10 principles to advance occupational well-being in health care organizations – these form an EXCELLENT road map for well-being efforts! x.com/ColinWestMDP...

1/ Welcome to Edition 312 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday! Today I’ll review threads and content from June 2025 on principles to advance occupational well-being in health care and much more (sorry for the repeated X profile photos)

1/ Welcome to Edition 312 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday! Today I’ll review threads and content from June 2025 on principles to advance occupational well-being in health care and much more (sorry for the repeated X profile photos)

8/ This study expands the scope of factors we might consider in risk assessment for suicidal ideation among physicians, adding personal relationship interference from work and self-valuation to our awareness, especially for those already experiencing depression symptoms

7/ Suicidal ideation prevalence was not statistically significantly greater among physicians than other US workers, with a 1-year point prevalence of 6.6% vs 5.6% (p=.09)

6/ In models adjusted for depression, factors associated with higher suicidal ideation risk included: Negative impact of work on personal relationships Lower self-valuation Burnout (both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization)

4/ Among >6000 physicians, suicidal ideation was reported by 6.1% overall. This was 9.7% among those <35 years of age and 8.0% in the 35-44 yo age group (p=.001), and 9.1% among single vs 5.6% among married physicians (p<.001).

1/ Welcome to Edition 311 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday – today, occupational distress and suicidal ideation among physicians and other US workers, just out in @acadmedjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/academicmedi...

1/ Welcome to Edition 311 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday – today, occupational distress and suicidal ideation among physicians and other US workers, just out in @acadmedjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/academicmedi...

7/ Beyond preventing and mitigating crisis events in the first place, possible approaches to help address crisis-related PTSD among GME trainees might include peer support groups, promotion of psychological safety esp around mental health, and confidential mental health screening

6/ These findings suggest a role for additional studies to determine whether proactive attention to at-risk trainees (those who are more socially isolated, for example) might be beneficial

5/ As social isolation worsened, PTSD symptoms prevalence increased (aOR 1.09 per 1-point increase in social isolation T-score, p<.001). Trainees less likely to intend to remain at their institution in the future were more likely to report PTSD symptoms (aOR 1.74, p=.007).

3/ Using the PC-PTSD-5 with items adapted to COVID-19-related experiences, 6% of >3100 GME trainees screened positive for PTSD symptoms

1/ Welcome to Edition 310 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday – today, pandemic-related PTSD symptoms among GME trainees, in @acadmedjournal.bsky.social with @larissathomas.bsky.social and many others academic.oup.com/academicmedi...

By examining self-reported pandemic-related PTSD symptoms, associated risk factors, and their consequences, this new study aims to identify vulnerable groups and inform institutional strategies to support trainee well-being during and after crisis events: https://bit.ly/4fDrWqX. #MedEd #MedSky

1/ Welcome to Edition 310 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday – today, pandemic-related PTSD symptoms among GME trainees, in @acadmedjournal.bsky.social with @larissathomas.bsky.social and many others academic.oup.com/academicmedi...

11/ There is ample food for thought in this paper, and it outlines important steps we should take together to move healthcare workforce well-being forward. We know what we need to do. Now can we exercise the collective will to do it? More to come next week! /fin

8/ Fourth, system redesign should be developed around improving both health workforce well-being AND operational excellence – these are not competing priorities but complementary

5/ You’ve heard me say it over and over: we can’t afford NOT to invest in well-being! As Dyrbye and Burstin write, “investing in workforce well-being is not optional. It is an operational imperative.”

4/ First, we cannot treat improvement as discretionary – well-being must be a foundational priority, as @mayoclinic.org has established in our Employee Well-Being mission statement www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S002...

2/ The evolution in patient safety from “blame the individual” to “systems to prevent errors” catalyzed by To Err is Human in 1999 illuminates a similar road for well-being – I’ve spoken on this for well over a decade, and I’m not alone

1/ Welcome to Edition 309 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday – today, a recent piece in @jama.com from Lotte Dyrbye and @helenburstinmd.medsky.social extending the analogies between patient safety work and healthcare workforce well-being jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

1/ Welcome to Edition 309 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday – today, a recent piece in @jama.com from Lotte Dyrbye and @helenburstinmd.medsky.social extending the analogies between patient safety work and healthcare workforce well-being jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

7/ From May 28, a look back at threads from February 2024 on yet another podcast, a key @nationalacademies.org background paper on burnout, the cost of physician burnout, and even older threads on moral injury and mental health stigma x.com/ColinWestMDP...

6/ Nearly half of responding physicians worked with an incompletely staffed team >1/4 of the time … with double the risk of burnout and increased risk of job turnover in that case

5/ From May 21, a key paper on team staffing and physician burnout x.com/ColinWestMDP...

3/ From May 14, our paper on spousal support and physician burnout x.com/ColinWestMDP...

2/ From May 7, a podcast episode on optimizing human performance x.com/ColinWestMDP...

1/ Welcome to Edition 308 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday! Today I’ll review threads and content from May 2025 on optimizing human performance, spousal support, team staffing, and more

Associations and Differences Between Occupational #Burnout and #Depression in Large Studies of U.S. #Physicians: https://bit.ly/4uzTkL7. #MedEd #MedSky

1/ Welcome to Edition 308 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday! Today I’ll review threads and content from May 2025 on optimizing human performance, spousal support, team staffing, and more

9/ “One physician recounted a conversation with her daughter that made her feelings of inadequacy as a parent explicit. ‘I told her a few weeks back, “You know what the three most important things in my life are, don’t you?” and she said, “Hmm … work …” and then she stopped.’”

8/ From April 30, a qualitative study on work-home interference experiences of physicians x.com/ColinWestMDP...

6/ From April 23, the 2023 national physician burnout and well-being update x.com/ColinWestMDP...

5/ From April 16, another podcast! x.com/ColinWestMDP...

4/ Key take-home message start here x.com/ColinWestMDP...

3/ From April 9, a podcast on thriving in medicine, including the MVPs of Well-Being: meaning, values, and purpose x.com/ColinWestMDP...

2/ From April 2, implementation and sustainability of the @mayoclinic.org plan for employee well-being x.com/ColinWestMDP...

1/ Welcome to Edition 307 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday! Today I’ll review threads and content from April 2025 on the @mayoclinic.org model and strategic plan for employee well-being, a couple of fun podcasts, recent national burnout data, and work-home interference.

1/ Welcome to Edition 307 of West’s Well-Being Wednesday! Today I’ll review threads and content from April 2025 on the @mayoclinic.org model and strategic plan for employee well-being, a couple of fun podcasts, recent national burnout data, and work-home interference.

9/ These correlated but distinct experiences are addressed by different management approaches, something that gets lost when the constructs are merged. They can also often be present together, and both aspects merit attention in that situation.

8/ We “should consider occupational forms of distress (e.g., burnout) and individual mental health diagnoses (e.g., depression) using a “both/and” mindset rather than artificially introducing silos or conflating the conditions.”

7/ The paper presents Venn diagrams for every overlap and distinction across burnout and depression categories – the bottom line is that these constructs are positively correlated but clearly not the same thing academic.oup.com/academicmedi...

5/ Among physicians with high EE, 62.6% had at least mild depression – meaning 37.4% did not. Among physicians with high DP, 61.5% had at least mild depression – meaning 38.5% did not. That’s “game over” for the “these are the same thing” crowd.

4/ Burnout and depression were quite strongly (but imperfectly) correlated: Emotional exhaustion-depression: r=0.64-0.68 Depersonalization-depression: r=0.50-0.56

2/ There has been longstanding debate about how burnout and depression relate, with some even claiming that burnout is “job-related depression”. I have written before about why I think this is incorrect, but this study offers hard data.