CUIMC Well-Being Survey Report

Why Well-Being? Why Now?

In collaboration with many CUIMC colleagues, I have been studying and working to improve employee well- being for several years. The growing concern for the impact of chronic stress and burnout on health care workers pre-pandemic prompted us to take our first steps as an organization, a grass-roots movement in the form of a task force. Despite the unbelievable challenges we faced as a community, the pandemic gave this group the opportunity to look deeper into the core of our institution and enhance our focus on the health and well-being of our people. Programs like CopeColumbia were created to meet these needs, and their success validated the need for readily available resources to support our employees and promote a culture of well-being. Sustainable, long-term well-being for the faculty and staff of our globally admired medical center is no longer assumed. Rather, it has become an institutional priority, as essential to our continued progress as anything else we do. With the unwavering support of Dean Armstrong, the CUIMC Well-Being Initiative has continued to grow. We have made the leap from reactive programming to proactively developing metrics and adopting a conceptual model to support the next phase of the initiative, arguably the most important: taking action.

We are only at the beginning of this journey and I am honored to be able to contribute to this initiative. I invite you to read this short report describing our progress thus far and, importantly, where we aim to go next.

Lou Baptista, MD
Chief Well-Being Officer 

Survey Findings

The CUIMC Well-Being Survey aimed to improve our understanding of our faculty and staff work experience, identify opportunities for improvement, and establish a baseline that will help us track our progress. More than a third of our employees completed the survey, giving us the opportunity to hear close to 4,400 voices. The survey inquired about our employees’ well-being, culture, and several moderators of work satisfaction such as meaning of work, professional development opportunities, and belonging. A key metric used in the survey was the Extended Physician Well-Being Index scale (ePWBI), a validated instrument used to measure overall well-being and distress among health care workers. 

Results told a familiar story about our medical center and the people who contribute to its important mission: 93% of our people said the work they do here is meaningful to them, and 74% of our workforce feel their values are aligned with their department. At the same time, 56% of faculty and staff were at some risk of experiencing excessive distress affecting their quality of life. This last number is indicative of a nationwide trend in health care. There is no perfect solution for an overburdened system emerging from a once-in-a-generation pandemic. Regardless, some of the data points represent challenges—and opportunities—that demand our immediate and focused attention. This an important moment for our community and our leadership teams to look inward and to reflect on how we can do better for our people.

CUIMC Well-Being Survey Results

Detailed individualized reports are now being distributed to schools and departments, and discussions around next steps at the system, departmental, and local levels will be ongoing. This report represents a high-level overview of the medical center and highlights data we can all use to improve our working conditions and collective well-being.

Employees at Some Risk of Adverse Outcomes

The Extended Physician Well-Being Index is a validated tool developed in 2013 to measure distress among physicians in the United States. This 9-item index is scored on a range of -2 to 9. Respondents scoring higher than 3 are at an increased risk of negative outcomes, including burnout, severe fatigue, and poor overall quality of life.

Next Steps: Action Plan

Our efforts will be guided by what we have learned from our colleagues through the survey and anchored by a conceptual framework developed by the U.S. Surgeon General. Our actions will utilize an evidence-based approach and be designed to focus on multi-level changes at the system, departmental, and local levels in order to establish partnerships and collective accountability. Below is the framework our CUIMC Office of Well-Being has adopted, as well as a high-level example of how we are organizing our action plan. The Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health and Well-Being emphasizes Five Essentials to support well-being in the workplace. 

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the U.S. Surgeon General

Current & Upcoming Initiatives

System Level Initiatives

Simple is Better: Simple is Better is a CUIMC-wide initiative aimed at maximizing operational efficiency by removing obstacles and updating outmoded systems. The initiative will aim to reduce waste and streamline workplace processes to empower faculty and staff. Simple is Better is designed to ensure you can focus your energy on delivering the highest quality patient care, research, education, and community engagement.

Department Level Initiatives 

Well-Being Best Practices Toolkit: Departmental leaders will be provided a toolkit on best practices and recommended strategies for fostering an environment conducive to well-being, including practices rooted in improving key areas of focus like professional growth, community, mental health, and organizational efficiency.

Local Initiatives 

Career Development & Growth Opportunities: Leadership training for mid-level managers will integrate concepts of well-being and leadership. These sessions will provide the opportunity to learn more about the dimensions of well-being and study proven tactics to drive performance, engagement, and resilience among teams.

Thank You

More information on these and other initiatives is forthcoming. In the meantime, we hope that employees will take time to engage with the reports distributed to their schools and departments and begin discussions on how we can work together for our shared benefit. 

As always, thank you for your engagement, your honesty, and your willingness to contribute to a better working environment for yourself and your colleagues. This work is a shared responsibility and I am grateful to all of you for your willingness to participate. We will be relying on your continued feedback as the initiative grows and responds to your needs. Please contact us at well-being@cumc.columbia.edu with questions, feedback, and additional input. 

Loyally,

Lou Baptista, MD
Chief Well-Being Officer