It’s Our Job: Modeling Team Well-being as Leaders in Interprofessional Education and Practice

Seminar Description: The seminar will provide a platform to share how interprofessional leaders are supporting some of the priority areas of the National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being. The National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being (National Academy of Medicine, 2022) describes “changes needed across the health system and at the organizational level to improve the well-being of the health workforce.” The National Plan includes seven priority areas and advocates that health worker well-being requires support from multiple units, including academic institutions or training programs. There is evidence that a positive outcome of interprofessional collaborative practice is improved employee satisfaction and decreased burnout (Martinussen et al., 2012; Al Sabei et al., 2022). The National Plan affirms this research by advocating this as part of the rationale for health workers to operate in teams. To support this work, it is important that interprofessional spaces and leaders model interprofessional teamwork to promote a positive, safe, and inclusive work environment.

The panel will dive into specific priority areas for implementation. For example, one of the priority areas is to “Create and sustain positive work and learning environments and culture.” Our speakers will share how they are addressing respective action statements such as “setting reasonable productivity expectations and providing adequate resources to support expectations” or “creating and implementing processes for meaningful recognition” for faculty and staff. Supporting faculty and staff well-being is a shared responsibility. It is important for IPE offices and committees to acknowledge and share within their own institutions how they are contributing to the national well-being movement.

The Summit theme of sustaining IPE and its leadership will be addressed by providing IPE leaders with resources, such as the National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being, as well as discussing opportunities to support faculty and staff well-being at their own institution. Seminar participants will learn about the National Plan and its priorities and will be given examples of how current IPE offices and committees are currently supporting well-being. Additionally, we will collectively brainstorm other opportunities to prevent burnout and stress through creating positive and safe work and learning environments, and supporting professional well-being and psychological safety. We will enhance learning through small group discussion, sharing ideas through an online whiteboard, and reflecting on next steps to take action within our own workplaces.

The seminar will focus on two of the priority criteria: ​​1) a call to action and 2) design to impact Quintuple Aim outcomes. The seminar will advocate for interprofessional leaders to recognize their role in the health team, amplify their efforts to support faculty and staff well-being, and consider opportunities to do so at their institution or program. The Quintuple Aim includes improving the wellness of the health team.

Learning objectives:
After attending this session, the learner will be able to:
1. Describe how the National Plan for Well-Being can be a supportive framework for well-being in IPE spaces.
2. Identify current and new opportunities to support faculty and staff well-being.
3. Develop a plan on next steps to support well-being within respective workplaces.