More than 11,000 UW Medicine employees shared their personal experience at work through the Well-Being Survey last spring. After an initial analysis of the global (not personally identifiable) data, Anne Browning, PhD, chief well-being officer for UW Medicine, reports some progress.
“As we look at the comparison to our pilot survey of advanced practice providers (APPs), trainees and faculty physicians from 2022, we are seeing some positive trends in those groups with increasing scores for professional fulfillment and decreases in burnout,” Browning said. “However, we know those trends are not universal, and the results still show an urgent need to invest in the well-being of our people.”
Browning and her team will meet with School of Medicine Department Chairs and well-being leaders as well as hospital and clinic leaders over the next few months to develop priorities and action plans based on survey results. While some of these plans will target well-being across UW Medicine, others will be developed to address local issues. As part of this effort, UW Medicine’s data experts at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation will help to identify local issues by population, site, unit and department.
“While rounding and talking with employees across the organization over the past few months, I noticed that some are thriving while others are facing real challenges to their well-being within their work environments,” Browning said. “Our goal is not only to support well-being but also to pay special attention to areas in our organization where more support is needed.”
Well-being grants: UW Medicine will offer a new round of Well-Being Grants this autumn. Look for a call for proposals in late October. These grants, $500 to $5,000 in value, can be used to make meaningful changes at the local level. As much as possible, survey data will be made available in advance so that grant proposals can be tailored to the specific needs of work areas and teams.
On behalf of UW Medicine leadership, Browning expressed appreciation to all employees for their participation and suggestions.
“The survey shows how much you care about making the work environment better for everyone,” she said. “Your engagement will allow us to build a better future for UW Medicine.”
For more survey results and charts, including scores for professional fulfillment and burnout as well as comparisons to national benchmarks by employee groups and locations, visit UW Medicine Well-Being Survey.
