RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Improving Resilience and Combating Burnout in US Army Health Care Teams
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 440
OP 445
DO 10.3122/jabfm.2020.03.190350
VO 33
IS 3
A1 Alyssa M. Coleman
A1 Meredith M. Hartzell
A1 Robert C. Oh
A1 Tamara S. Funari
A1 L. Omar Rivera
A1 Jill A. Brown
YR 2020
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/33/3/440.abstract
AB Introduction: In 2015, the Army Office of the Surgeon General adapted a Veterans Health Administration course for health care teams to implement holistic health practices to improve the resiliency of health care teams and patient care. The Army course Move to Health was piloted in health care teams at 8 military clinics. During the 20-hour course, health care teams learned techniques to improve their resiliency and created action plans to incorporate holistic health into the workplace, a known factor in decreasing burnout.Methods: A process and outcome evaluation of this course was conducted using a within-group design. Surveys were administered to health care teams at precourse and 2-month follow-up, and 186 participants completed both surveys.Results: Burnout among team members did not significantly change from precourse (52%, n = 96) to follow-up (48%, n = 90). At follow-up, team members described using resiliency building strategies for self-care, significantly improved their self-efficacy to treat patients holistically in the patient-centered care home model, and reported increased satisfaction with patient centered care home (all are p < 0.01). However, 70% (n = 131) of team members reported that they had not completed action plan implementation and did not report improved job satisfaction.Discussion: Informed by the literature, Move to Health combines an individual resiliency intervention with organizational change, facilitating action plans to mitigate burnout. This manuscript explores potential reasons for why burnout did not significantly change within the 2-month period following the intervention. Reducing burnout among health care teams is vital to ensure that optimal health care is provided to the military and its beneficiaries.