Reducing burnout and enhancing work engagement among clinicians: The Minnesota experience

The Minnesota Hospital Association (MHA) recognized the impact that burnout and disengagement had on the clinician population. A clinician task force developed a conceptual framework, followed by annual surveys and a series of interventions. Features of the job demands-resources model were used as the conceptual underpinning to this analysis.

The aim of this study was to assess the applicability of a clinician-driven conceptual model in understanding burnout and work engagement in the state of Minnesota.

Four thousand nine hundred ninety clinicians from 94 MHA member hospitals/systems responded to a 2018 survey using a brief instrument adapted, in part, from previously validated measures.

As hypothesized, job demands were strongly related to burnout, whereas resources were most related to work engagement. Variables from the MHA model explained 40% of variability in burnout and 24% of variability in work engagement. Variables related to burnout with the highest beta weights included having sufficient time for work (-0.266), values alignment with leaders (-0.176), and teamwork efficiency (-0.123), all ps < .001. Variables most associated with engagement included values alignment (0.196), feeling appreciated (0.163), and autonomy (0.093), ps < .001.

Findings support the basic premises of the proposed conceptual model. Remediable work-life conditions, such as having sufficient time to do the job, values alignment with leadership, teamwork efficiency, feeling appreciated, and clinician autonomy, manifested the strongest associations with burnout and work engagement.

Interventions reducing job demands and strengthening resources such as values alignment, teamwork efficiency, and clinician autonomy are seen as having the greatest potential efficacy.