Battling Healthcare Burnout

Winner of the 2022 ACHE James A. Hamilton Book of the Year AwardWhen physicians and nurses suffer from burnout, patients suffer as well. This book pinpoints the how and why and shows what healthcare providers and their organizations can do.Burnout is among the most critical topics in healthcare as it deprives us of our most important resource-the talents and passion of those who perform the difficult work of caring for patients and their families. The purpose of this book is to provide not only a taxonomy of burnout within the landscape of healthcare but also to provide pathways for healthcare professionals to guide themselves and their organizations toward changing the culture and systems of their organization.The work of battling burnout begins from within. Thom Mayer views every healthcare team member as both a leader and performance athlete, engaged in a cycle of performance, training, and recovery. In these roles, they must both lead and protect themselves and their teams.Battling Healthcare Burnout looks at individuals' role in promoting change within themselves and their organization and addresses solutions to change the culture and systems of work. Both are presented with a pragmatic focusand a liberal use of examples and case studies, including those from several nationally recognized healthcare systems.

“"'You cannot give what you do not have.' Clinicians who suffer burnout in their work cannot offer patients, families, and communities the help they need. In this book, Dr. Mayer offers powerful, evidence-based frameworks for understanding, preventing, managing, and reversing burnout. His counsel is invaluable, and the benefits to healers and patients alike can be enormous." --Donald M. Berwick, MD, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement "Burnout has been a major challenge in healthcare for decades, and Dr. Mayer's book provides a lot of wisdom about how that challenge can be met and managed more successfully." --Christina Maslach, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley "Essential reading for all clinicians who have been called to their work and are committed to creating a better practice environment for patients, their colleagues, and themselves." --Tait Shanafelt, MD, Chief Wellness Officer, Stanford Medicine "Dr. Mayer provides an insightful view into the sources of burnout prolific in healthcare today, as well as a practical framework for better understanding, preventing, managing, and reversing burnout so our clinicians can get back to the love of their calling--caring for patients. This is an important read for any healthcare leader striving to create a culture where physicians, nurses, other clinical caregivers, and first responders across the board can not only do their best work but also thrive while doing so." --Carrie Owen Plietz, FACHE, President, Kaiser Permanente Northern California "We went into emergency medicine to help people and to save lives, but when burnout sets in we lose that focus and ourselves. This book helps us better understand ourselves and our teams and how to refocus on the job we love. An essential read for all frontline workers." --Mark Rosenberg, President, American College of Emergency Physicians "The emotional well-being of our physicians, nurses, other clinical caregivers, and first responders should be a top priority for our government and our society at large. Dr. Thom Mayer's excellent book is a timely and highly practical template for how to reduce the burnout burden." --Charles Stokes, RN, FACHE , Past Chairman, American College of Healthcare Executives, and former CEO, Memorial Hermann Health System "Thom Mayer's book is a timely and comprehensive overview of healthcare worker burnout. In addition to being grounded in current research, it also provides practical solutions for leaders who want to reduce burnout in their organizations. Using quotes and stories from literature and classic writers, it connects the issue of burnout and finding joy at work as part of the human condition throughout the ages. The book is inspiring as well as practical." --Jean Ann Larson, EdD, FACHE, Chief Leadership Development Officer, UAB Medicine, and Senior Associate Dean of Leadership Development, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham "In Battling Healthcare Burnout , Thom Mayer turns his focus to a culture he's both role modelled and coached others to achieve through his career. Weaving together gripping firsthand stories and timeless philosophical truths with practical ideas, it's a terrific resource for all who are committed to improving the well-being of healthcare workers." --Craig Deao , Managing Director, Huron Consulting Group”

“‘You cannot give what you do not have.’ Clinicians who suffer burnout in their work cannot offer patients, families, and communities the help they need. In this book, Dr. Mayer offers powerful, evidence-based frameworks for understanding, preventing, managing, and reversing burnout. His counsel is invaluable, and the benefits to healers and patients alike can be enormous.” 
—Donald M. Berwick, MD, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement 
 
“Burnout has been a major challenge in healthcare for decades, and Dr. Mayer’s book provides a lot of wisdom about how that challenge can be met and managed more successfully.” 
—Christina Maslach, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
 
“Essential reading for all clinicians who have been called to their work and are committed to creating a better practice environment for patients, their colleagues, and themselves.”
—Tait Shanafelt, MD, Chief Wellness Officer, Stanford Medicine

“Dr. Mayer provides an insightful view into the sources of burnout prolific in healthcare today, as well as a practical framework for better understanding, preventing, managing, and reversing burnout so our clinicians can get back to the love of their calling—caring for patients. This is an important read for any healthcare leader striving to create a culture where physicians, nurses, other clinical caregivers, and first responders across the board can not only do their best work but also thrive while doing so.” 
—Carrie Owen Plietz, FACHE, President, Kaiser Permanente Northern California

“We went into emergency medicine to help people and to save lives, but when burnout sets in we lose that focus and ourselves. This book helps us better understand ourselves and our teams and how to refocus on the job we love. An essential read for all frontline workers.”
—Mark Rosenberg, President, American College of Emergency Physicians

“The emotional well-being of our physicians, nurses, other clinical caregivers, and first responders should be a top priority for our government and our society at large. Dr. Thom Mayer’s excellent book is a timely and highly practical template for how to reduce the burnout burden.”
—Charles Stokes, RN, FACHE, Past Chairman, American College of Healthcare Executives, and former CEO, Memorial Hermann Health System

“Thom Mayer’s book is a timely and comprehensive overview of healthcare worker burnout. In addition to being grounded in current research, it also provides practical solutions for leaders who want to reduce burnout in their organizations. Using quotes and stories from literature and classic writers, it connects the issue of burnout and finding joy at work as part of the human condition throughout the ages. The book is inspiring as well as practical.”
—Jean Ann Larson, EdD, FACHE, Chief Leadership Development Officer, UAB Medicine, and Senior Associate Dean of Leadership Development, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham

“In Battling Healthcare Burnout, Thom Mayer turns his focus to a culture he’s both role modelled and coached others to achieve through his career. Weaving together gripping firsthand stories and timeless philosophical truths with practical ideas, it’s a terrific resource for all who are committed to improving the well-being of healthcare workers.”
—Craig Deao, Managing Director, Huron Consulting Group

Thom Mayer, MD, is medical director for the National Football League Players Association, the founder of Best Practices Inc., the CEO of Survival Skills Solutions, a national speaker for Huron Consulting, a clinical professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University, and a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University. He is a widely sought-after speaker on burnout, resiliency, crisis management, healthcare patient experience, leadership and management, and emergency and disaster medicine.

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