significant statements
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Affiliated to Tongji University, project number: K16-252. Before the interview, the researcher explained the purpose and significance of the study to each interviewee in detail and obtained the informed consent of them on a voluntary basis and all of the interviewees signed informed consent forms. To protect the privacy of each interviewee, their names are replaced by numbers (e.g., N1, N2), and the original materials and transcribed text materials involved are kept by the first author himself, and all materials are destroyed after the completion of the study.
There was no new point of view when the 13th nurse was interviewed, and there was still no new point of view when one more nurse was interviewed, the interview was over, 14 nurses were interviewed. Three themes and seven subthemes were extracted. The characteristics of the participants ( N = 14) are provided in Table II .
Participant characteristics (N = 14).
Characteristics | (%) or M ± SD; range | |
---|---|---|
Age (years) | 30.29 ± 8.49;22 ~ 48 | |
Working years | 9.71 ± 9.25; 1 ~ 29 | |
Gender | ||
Male | 1(7.14%) | |
Female | 13 (92.86%) | |
Educational level | ||
Junior college student | 4 (28.57) | |
Undergraduate student | 10 (71.43%) | |
Professional title | ||
Junior nurse | 8 (57.14%) | |
Nurse Practitioner | 1 (7.14%) | |
Nurse-in-charge | 4 (28.57%) | |
Associate Professor of nursing | 1 (7.14%) | |
Marital status | ||
Married | 6 (42.86%) | |
Unmarried | 8 (57.14%) | |
Department | ||
Department of infectious diseases | 3 (21.43%) | |
Medical department | 6 (42.86%) | |
Intensive care unit | 3(21.43%) | |
Surgical department | 2 ()14.29% |
Differences in knowledge structure and thinking.
Differences in the structure of prior knowledge and way of thinking will affect nurses’ processing of clinical data, thus affecting their clinical decision-making. The nurses made a wrong judgement of the condition because of the solidified thinking that postoperative nausea and vomiting symptoms were side effects of narcotic drugs and the lack of overall control and understanding of the patient’s condition.
There was a patient who came back after surgery with nausea and vomiting, the first thing that went through my mind, is the drug side effects, so I didn’t pay much attention, as is often the case, the most common cause of postoperative nausea and vomiting is anesthetic drug side effects, but later found to be cerebral infarction, this kind of situation I find it hard to recognize.
Professional values of nurses are accepted codes of conduct internalized by nursing professionals through training and learning (Pan, 2016 ). Negative professional values are easy to lead to problem solving dilemma. Some nurses think nursing is just a service.
The work is difficult to do, everything is the nurse’s fault, the nurse must apologize and put up with the patient’s scolding, nursing is a service industry, sometimes I am really wronged.” There are also nurses who believe that nursing work can reflect their personal value, and solving problems successfully will bring them a sense of achievement.
Although the nursing work is very intense, I live a full life every day. I feel a sense of accomplishment and pride that I can solve the problems of patients and discharge them smoothly through my work.
Nursing work is patient-centred holistic nursing, the current clinical situation is complex and changeable, requiring nurses must have good strain capacity, and can “be anxious about what the patient needs, think what the patient thinks, and solve the patient’s difficulties.”
All patients are self-centered, and they don’t care whether you (the nurse) are busy or not. For example, once I gave oral medicine to a patient, a patient in the same ward was in a hurry and asked me to help him call his son. I was busy handing out the medicine and did not help. As a result, the patient was very dissatisfied and complained to the head nurse.
The 20-bed patient went through the discharge formalities but was still lying in the hospital bed. when the new patient arrived and she didn’t leave, I went to urge her to leave the hospital, she suddenly got angry and scolded me, I don’t know what to do.
Low sense of organizational support.
Organizational support is an important resource for clinical nurses in the process of problem solving (Poghosyan et al., 2020 ). Low sense of organizational support will hinder nurses’ problem solving.
The style of leadership and the atmosphere of the department are very important. in a department I rotated before, the leader was too strict to listen to your explanation, and the atmosphere of the department was not good. I couldn’t find help when I encountered problems. When I have a conflict with a patient, the leader will only criticize me, which makes me feel helpless.
Sometimes there will be a conflict with patients due to the bed turnover problem, and the patient will not listen to your explanation and turn around to complain, the nurse will be responsible for such things. In severe cases, even violent incidents will be encountered and the personal safety can not be guaranteed.
Although the total number of nurses has increased substantially, there is still a shortage of human resources under the rapidly increasing workload (Guo et al., 2021 ).
When I was on the night shift and I encountered the critical moment of rescuing patients, I had to call an anesthesiologist, a doctor on duty, a nurse on duty simultaneously, an observation of the patient’s condition to prevent accidents was needed, I also have to race against time to give the patient ECG monitoring and oxygen inhalation. When the doctor came, he also criticized me that the first-aid equipment was not in place (crying).
According to the normal nurse-patient ratio, each nurse takes care of eight patients, and now there are not only eight patients, but also with extra beds and a fast turnover, and sometimes a nurse is responsible for more than 12 patients
The concept of emphasizing medicine and neglecting to nurse.
There is a deviation in society’s cognition of the profession of nurses, which believes that nurses are the “legs” of doctors, and nurses’ work is to help doctors run errands, give injections and give fluids. This concept not only leads to nurses’ lack of due respect, but also hinders nurses’ professional identity, and has a great negative impact on nurses’ problem-solving (Gao et al., 2015 ).
The patient did not dare to tell the doctor something he was not satisfied with, but complained directly to the nurse. For example, if the patient did not want to do some tests, he would scold the nurse. The nurse explained to him that he would not listen. But when the doctor came, he smiled and refused to admit that he cursed nurses, and he would frame the nurse. 90% of the patients would be willing to listen to the doctor.
Sometimes the patient says he was not feeling well, and I know the patient’s condition. I will give her some reasonable explanations, but the patient does not accept it. She is satisfied only when the doctor come to see her. In the final analysis, the patient just don’t believe us. No matter how much I explain to her, it is not as effective as the doctor’s glance at her.
There are differences in patients’ personality characteristics, cultural background, views on nurses and state of an illness, these individual differences are also the reasons for nurses’ problem-solving dilemma (Chan et al., 2018 ).
Some cancer patients are in a period of anger, and it is very difficult to communicate with him. When I see him angry and lose his temper, I will not talk to him and just leave.”
Patients have different cultural levels and different social backgrounds. Sometimes I can’t talk too deeply. If patients are a little more educated, it will be easier for us to communicate with them, and some patients can’t understand anything we say.”
The reasons for nurses’ failure in problem solving are mainly in the process of understanding the problem, the search process driven by the psychological information structure, and the problem or loss of balance in the process of implementing the plan. In the process, the three factors of nurses, management and patients all played an important role. Nurses’ knowledge structure and thinking loopholes led to the deviation of nurses’ internal representation of the problem (Jonassen, 2005 ). Poor professional values and low sense of organizational support can lead to nurses’ negative orientation and attitude towards problems (Poghosyan et al., 2020 ; X. Wang et al., 2018 ). The manpower allocation of nurses, patients’ emphasis on medical treatment over nursing care, and individual differences mainly increase the complexity and difficulty of nurses’ problem-solving task environment as external factors. The three factors work together on the problem-solving of clinical nurses, which leads to the dilemma of problem-solving.
At present, the overall quality and ability of nurses cannot meet the requirements of systematic, effective and rapid problem-solving. It is necessary to strengthen the construction of nurses to improve nurses’ problem-solving ability. Some studies have shown that situational simulation class can improve students’ knowledge, experience, psychological quality and other abilities (Mohammad, 2020 ). It is suggested that nursing educators should explore targeted situational simulation teaching and strengthen the relationship between classroom teaching and clinical practice through situational simulation, and to build a novel, perfect and clinical knowledge network for nurses. Secondly, emergency situational simulation teaching should be carried out to enable nurses to experience emergency situations from different angles, so as to improve their thinking, skills and timeliness in dealing with emergencies (Zhang et al., 2019 ). The content of professional values training should also be added to the situational simulation class in order to cultivate nurses’ positive, accessible and stable professional values and promote their positive orientation and attitude when facing problems (Skeriene, 2019 ).
Through interviews, it is found that nursing management factors have caused nurses’ problem-solving dilemma to a certain extent, which needs to be optimized according to the specific problems existing in nursing management to help nurses deal with the problems and solve the dilemma effectively. The total number of registered nurses in China exceeded 4.7 million in 2021, an increase of 1.46 million from 3.24 million in 2015, an increase of 45% (Deng et al., 2019 ]. However, there is still a large workload and underallocation of manpower, which may be due to the unreasonable distribution of human resources between time periods and departments. Hospitals and nursing managers can use the hospital information system to evaluate the nursing workload, and allocate nursing human resources reasonably according to the evaluation results (H. Yang et al., 2019 ), so as to avoid nurses falling into the dilemma of problem solving due to long-term overloaded work. In addition, it is necessary to create a harmonious departmental atmosphere for nurses, create a supportive departmental environment (Aghaei et al., 2020 ), and strictly ensure the safety of nurses’ practice and put an end to the occurrence of violence. Timely and strong organizational support can reduce the painful feelings of nurses caused by adverse events (Stone, 2020 ). and help them to solve problems actively.
There is a bias in social cognition of the profession of nurses, and some negative media reports mislead patients, resulting in social stereotypes of nurses (L. Q. Wang et al., 2021 ). It is necessary to make full use of new media to objectively introduce the nursing profession to the public, publicize outstanding nursing figures and typical deeds, make the public realize the important role of nurses in health care, and create an atmosphere of understanding and supporting nurses in the whole society to enhance the image and credibility of nurses and help nurses deal with problems and solve difficulties effectively (Falkenstrom, 2017 ).
The limitation is that the transferability of this study’s results may be limited as a result of including a small number of participants and the participants all worked in the same hospital in Shanghai. More participants in different cities and hospitals could have increased the variety of the descriptions and experiences. The strength is that the use of purposive sampling facilitated inclusion of participants from a range of demographic groups. The use of maximum variation strategy facilitated that the participants covered different gender, education level, professional title, marital status, seniority and department, which helped to increase the representativeness of sample.
This study provides an in-depth exploration of the problem solving dilemmas of clinical nurses in China and provides valuable insights into the continuing education of nurses. These insights shine a light on areas that warrant further investigation and need to be improved in continuing education of nurses. It is of great significance to improve nurses’ problem-solving ability, improve nurses’ professional quality, effectively solve patients’ medical treatment and health problems, and improve patients’ experience of seeking medical treatment.
Through the semi-structured interview, it is found that the problem-solving dilemma of clinical nurses is affected by many factors. Nurses themselves should be confident, self-improvement, constantly learning and enterprising to improve their own ability, and be good at using new media to improve nurses’ image and credibility. Hospitals, nursing administrators and nursing educators should take corresponding measures to improve the knowledge structure of nurses, cultivate nurses’ positive professional values and adaptability, and give full organizational support to nurses. optimize the allocation of nursing human resources to provide a strong guarantee for nurses to deal with problems solving dilemma.
Yu Mei Li : associate chief nurse, master degree, master supervisor, engaged in nursing of tumor patients.
Yifan Luo : nurse, master degree, engaged in clinical nursing.
This work was supported by the Graduate Education Research and Reform Education Management program of Tongji University [2021YXGL09].
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Purpose A3 problem solving is part of the Lean management approach to quality improvement (QI). However, few tools are available to assess A3 problem-solving skills. The authors sought to develop an assessment tool for problem-solving A3s with an accompanying self-instruction package and to test agreement in assessments made by individuals who teach A3 problem solving.
Methods After reviewing relevant literature, the authors developed an A3 assessment tool and self-instruction package over five improvement cycles. Lean experts and individuals from two institutions with QI proficiency and experience teaching QI provided iterative feedback on the materials. Tests of inter-rater agreement were conducted in cycles 3, 4 and 5. The final assessment tool was tested in a study involving 12 raters assessing 23 items on six A3s that were modified to enable testing a range of scores.
Results The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for overall assessment of an A3 (rater’s mean on 23 items per A3 compared across 12 raters and 6 A3s) was 0.89 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.98), indicating excellent reliability. For the 20 items with appreciable variation in scores across A3s, ICCs ranged from 0.41 to 0.97, indicating fair to excellent reliability. Raters from two institutions scored items similarly (mean ratings of 2.10 and 2.13, p=0.57). Physicians provided marginally higher ratings than QI professionals (mean ratings of 2.17 and 2.00, p=0.003). Raters averaged completing the self-instruction package in 1.5 hours, then rated six A3s in 2.0 hours.
Conclusion This study provides evidence of the reliability of a tool to assess healthcare QI project proposals that use the A3 problem-solving approach. The tool also demonstrated evidence of measurement, content and construct validity. QI educators and practitioners can use the free online materials to assess learners’ A3s, provide formative and summative feedback on QI project proposals and enhance their teaching.
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Discover 5 healthcare industry challenges in 2024. From managing crises to enhancing data security, learn how experts are tackling these critical issues.
As we emerge from the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry stands at a crucial crossroads. The past years have not only tested our resilience but have also brought to light a spectrum of administrative challenges that continue to shape our healthcare system today. From the intense pressures once faced by frontline workers to systemic issues that have long simmered beneath the surface, the pandemic has left an indelible mark, reshaping our approach to healthcare management.
Now, in this post-pandemic era, we seize the opportunity to transform challenges into catalysts for change. We reached out to l eading experts in the healthcare field to answer a critical question: What are some of the top problems related to healthcare and hospital management? (Because management performance is our domain.)
What you're about to read is a compilation of their responses, along with some insights we’ve gained after partnering with healthcare organizations over the years to improve their operations. In no way is this intended to be an article on how to solve healthcare problems, but rather a way to contribute more voices to the conversation to make things better.
In an era where healthcare crises have evolved from rare occurrences to frequent challenges, the ability to manage situations in real-time has become indispensable. The past years, marked by public health emergencies like COVID-19, have underscored this reality more than ever. Terry Zysk, CEO of LiveProcess , highlights a crucial aspect of modern healthcare management: using real-time data analysis to understand how an event is unfolding, and reacting to it accordingly . This approach is critical in understanding and responding to unfolding events, ensuring that vital healthcare resources reach where they are needed most, precisely when they are needed.
The crux of the issue lies in the limitations of current healthcare management systems. Many hospitals cannot provide real-time metrics essential for swift and effective decision-making. Imagine the impact of knowing the availability of beds in a facility at any given moment or pinpointing the exact location of critical supplies during emergencies.
To bridge this gap, several software products have been built to help gather real-time metrics, including situation management-specific platforms like LiveProcess.
ClearPoint is another option that takes a more holistic view of situation management from a strategy perspective. This software has been used by many organizations to automatically track and report on healthcare metrics, including number of cases, response rates, quantity of resources, etc. You can use that data to respond appropriately to crises and make sure those decisions continue to support your overall strategy.
2. ineffective internal communication.
Communication among and within healthcare institutions—and even with other external stakeholders—continues to be a challenge. The stakes are high: studies reveal that hospitals lose a staggering $12 billion annually due to poor communication, often due to aging technologies, silos between departments, and other issues. Poor internal communication has even been linked with the quality of patient care , highlighting an urgent need for a robust communication framework.
For hospitals, there is a need to communicate with both internal and external audiences about things like safety precautions, test availability, PPE supplies, etc. However, the challenge of internal communication transcends beyond crises. In the day-to-day rhythm of healthcare operations, the ability to seamlessly share information and data across departments is fundamental. It empowers teams, fosters collaboration, and propels strategic initiatives forward.
ClearPoint makes communication and knowledge-sharing simpler and more organized. It provides transparency around your organization’s direction and mission and encourages all employees to take ownership of projects, increasing employee engagement. It can also help you communicate with outside stakeholders using external dashboards that convey crucial information, similar to the one for a municipality shown below.
Another major challenge identified by several healthcare providers is the lack of interoperability across health technology systems. Susan G. Bornstein , MD, MPH points out that, without a national healthcare database in place, “medical providers in one office or healthcare system are precluded from seeing a patient's information in another system to the detriment of the patient. For example, a patient may forget some of their medication allergies, what tests they had performed, exactly what surgery was done when, who they saw for what—all of which is critical information for rendering the current episode of care.”
Echoing this sentiment, Kristy Dalechek of Haven Healthcare Advocates agrees that interoperability issues make it harder to identify patients’ medical problems and their solutions . “Electronic health records were supposed to be the answer, but our healthcare system is even more fragmented now. Even if all of your doctors and specialists are in the same network and use the same EHR, they may not have your entire health record and history.”
This lack of system interoperability is a barrier to elevating healthcare quality and efficiency. It's a puzzle that, if solved, could streamline care delivery and reduce costs significantly. Forward-thinking solutions are on the horizon, with emerging technologies like machine learning and blockchain offering glimmers of hope, though their practical applications have yet to be determined.
The journey to achieving true interoperability in healthcare is complex, but the vision is clear: a future where every piece of medical information is just a click away, ensuring that every patient receives the most informed and holistic care possible.
Picture this: hospital workers, administrators, and clinicians drowning in an ocean of test results, patient records, and administrative data. The scenario is all too common – sifting through hundreds of pages, analyzing tens of thousands of data points, all in the quest for that crucial piece of information. This is the reality of information overload in healthcare , a challenge as critical as any medical condition.
Whether that information is generated by medical devices or lab tests, or used for patient care or administrative purposes, data overload is undeniably a problem across all types of healthcare organizations. The key to unlocking the power of this data lies in technology – smart, intuitive, and efficient.
Healthcare organizations should look for advanced solutions that support:
If you’re looking for a solution that makes sense of your organization’s data about performance improvement, check out ClearPoint. If you need a tech solution to address other data challenges—like managing patient information, for example—you might be better off searching for software that addresses those technology issues in healthcare more specifically.
Another challenge mentioned by multiple respondents was data security. A startling statistic brings this into sharp focus: from 2009 to 2020, an astonishing 70% of the U.S. population was impacted by healthcare data breaches—a trend that isn’t likely to go away.
Compared to other industries, the healthcare industry is relatively unprepared for cyber attack s. Raymond Dacillo, Director of Operations at C-Care Health Services , paints a concerning picture: “due to limited funding and budgetary constraints, many healthcare providers have become increasingly easy targets for attackers, who exploit their vulnerabilities.”
The rapid adoption of digital health initiatives, such as telehealth services, has inadvertently widened the attack surface, making data breaches more frequent and severe. As more healthcare functions continue to move online, it’s essential to ensure these processes are protected.
Dacillo believes the healthcare industry needs government funding to strengthen its IT resources. However, there's also an immediate need for healthcare organizations to take proactive steps. Key measures include:
These practices are essential strategies in safeguarding the lifeblood of healthcare – patient data. You can read about some essential data security practices here.
From real-time situation management to data security, the hurdles faced by healthcare organizations are multifaceted. However, the solution may lie in a powerful ally: strategy management software . Among the leaders in this technology is ClearPoint Strategy, a tool designed to empower healthcare organizations to navigate and thrive amidst these complexities.
ClearPoint Strategy also enhances hospital performance in several key areas:
Read our blog on 5 Strategy Management Software Use Cases in Healthcare for a comprehensive exploration of how healthcare project management software, particularly ClearPoint Strategy, can revolutionize hospital operations and patient care.
Certainly, the healthcare landscape is riddled with more challenges than we've explored today. But every problem presents an opportunity for a solution. If your organization is grappling with issues in strategic planning, reporting, or project management, we're here to assist. Book a demo and connect with us for a tailored approach that not only addresses your specific healthcare challenges but also propels you toward achieving and surpassing your goals.
Let's collaborate to turn these challenges into milestones of success for your organization!
Ted is a Founder and Managing Partner of ClearPoint Strategy and leads the sales and marketing teams.
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Health services organization managers at all levels are constantly confronted with problems. Conditions encountered that initiate the need for problem solving are opportunity, threat, crisis, deviation, and improvement. A general problem-solving model presenting an orderly process by which managers can approach this important task is described. An example of the model applied to the current strategic climate is presented.
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Don’t leave teaming up to chance. Create better teamwork through science.
In this course, experts from Harvard Business School and the T.H. Chan School of Public Health teach learners to implement a strategy for organizational teamwork in health care.
Health care is a team effort. From the front desk administrators to the nurses, doctors, insurers, and even the patients and their families, there are many people involved in an individual’s care. To deliver quality care in today’s fast-paced environment, practitioners and caregivers must go beyond medical problem-solving and rely on effective collaboration and communication skills.
While other businesses may organize around a functional area or project, allowing team members to learn each other's working styles and strengths over time, health care workers often find themselves in ad hoc scenarios, coordinating with near-strangers on life and death situations. As a leader, how do you encourage trust and meet shared goals when teams are formed quickly? How do you strengthen flexibility and collaboration even as team membership and structures fluctuate across departments?
In Innovations in Teamwork for Health Care, leaders in the field of organizational behavior and teamwork, Amy Edmondson, Professor at Harvard Business School, and Michaela Kerrissey, Assistant Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, share their latest research and present their concept of "teaming" as it relates to the health care and life science industries.
In this course, you will explore the complexities of collaboration in dynamic cross-functional teams and its impact on quality of care. You will examine the theory of teaming – where individuals join together to lend their expertise – to appreciate what enables effective teamwork and why teamwork fails; articulate the importance of psychological safety and a joint problem-solving orientation; understand the particular needs of time-limited teams; and rethink the role of hierarchy and leadership in the context of teaming.
You’ll hear firsthand from experts with experience inside and outside the health care industry, from CEO and President of the Cleveland Clinic, Tomislav Mihaljevic, to Andres Sougarret, the engineer who led the miraculous rescue of 33 Chilean miners in 2011.
Ultimately, this course provides you with the tools needed to implement effective teaming strategies for patient-centered care and provides your organization with a framework to empower robust communication, improve efficiency, and elevate patient safety.
The course will be delivered via HBS Online’s course platform and immerse learners in real-world examples from experts at industry-leading organizations. By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
In support of improving patient care, Harvard Medical School is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education.
The Harvard Medical School designates this enduring material for a maximum of 20 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Harvard Medical School is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
This activity is approved for 20.00 contact hours. Contact hours are awarded commensurate with participation and completion of the online evaluation and attendance attestation. We suggest claiming your hours within 30 days of the activity date, after this time, the attendance attestation will still be required to claim your hours.
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Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society. She has pioneered the concept of psychological safety for over 20 years and was recognized in 2021 as #1 on the Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers.
She is the author of Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy (2012), The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth (2018), and Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well (2023).
Michaela Kerrissey is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She conducts research on how teams and organizations innovate, integrate, and perform, with a focus on health care. Dr. Kerrissey has authored over 30 publications on these topics and has won numerous best-paper awards, such as from the Academy of Management. She designed the Management Science for a New Era course at Harvard’s School of Public Health. In 2023, she was listed on Thinkers50 Radar, a global listing of top management thinkers.
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Learn from the President and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic about how to implement joint problem solving in complex care organizations.
Hear from a top political strategist and campaign manager about how she leads within a teaming structure.
Learn from Harvard faculty and founder of Wellframe about the importance of team learning.
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Health care economics.
Taught by Harvard Medical School faculty, this course provides insights into the interactions between industries in the US health care sector and teaches what economic forces are shaping health care.
Digital technologies and big data offer tremendous opportunities to improve health care.
In partnership with the Disparities Solutions Center at MGH, this course will help you deliver high-quality health care to all through organizational change.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and exacerbated long-standing corporate challenges to employee health and well-being , and in particular employee mental health. 1 When used in this article, “mental health” is a term inclusive of positive mental health and the full range of mental, substance use, and neurological conditions. This has resulted in reports of rapidly rising rates of burnout 2 When used in this article, “burnout” and “burnout symptoms” refer to work-driven burnout symptoms (per sidebar “What is burnout?”). around the world (see sidebar “What is burnout?”).
This article is a collaborative effort by Jacqueline Brassey , Erica Coe , Martin Dewhurst, Kana Enomoto , Renata Giarola, Brad Herbig, and Barbara Jeffery , representing the views of the McKinsey Health Institute.
Many employers have responded by investing more into mental health and well-being than ever before. Across the globe, four in five HR leaders report that mental health and well-being is a top priority for their organization. 3 McKinsey Health Institute Employee Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey, 2022: n (employee) = 14,509; n (HR decision maker) = 1,389. Many companies offer a host of wellness benefits such as yoga, meditation app subscriptions, well-being days, and trainings on time management and productivity. In fact, it is estimated that nine in ten organizations around the world offer some form of wellness program. 4 Charlotte Lieberman, “What wellness programs don’t do for workers,” Harvard Business Review , August 14, 2019.
As laudable as these efforts are, we have found that many employers focus on individual-level interventions that remediate symptoms, rather than resolve the causes of employee burnout. 5 Anna-Lisa Eilerts et al., “Evidence of workplace interventions—A systematic review of systematic reviews,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 2019, Volume 16, Number 19. Employing these types of interventions may lead employers to overestimate the impact of their wellness programs and benefits 6 Katherine Baicker et al., “Effect of a workplace wellness program on employee health and economic outcomes: A randomized clinical trial,” JAMA , 2019, Volume 321, Number 15; erratum published in JAMA , April 17, 2019. and to underestimate the critical role of the workplace in reducing burnout and supporting employee mental health and well-being. 7 Pascale M. Le Blanc, et al., “Burnout interventions: An overview and illustration,” in Jonathan R. B. Halbesleben’s Handbook of Stress and Burnout in Health Care , New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2008; Peyman Adibi et al., “Interventions for physician burnout: A systematic review of systematic reviews,” International Journal of Preventive Medicine , July 2018, Volume 9, Number 1.
According to the World Health Organization, burnout is an occupational phenomenon. It is driven by a chronic imbalance between job demands 1 Job demands are physical, social, or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort and are therefore associated with certain physiological and psychological costs—for example, work overload and expectations, interpersonal conflict, and job insecurity. Job resources are those physical, social, or organizational aspects of the job that may do any of the following: (a) be functional in achieving work goals; (b) reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs; (c) stimulate personal growth and development such as feedback, job control, social support (Wilmar B. Schaufeli and Toon W. Taris, “A critical review of the job demands-resources model: Implications for improving work and health,” from Georg F. Bauer and Oliver Hämmig’s Bridging Occupational, Organizational and Public Health: A Transdisciplinary Approach , first edition, Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2014). (for example, workload pressure and poor working environment) and job resources (for example, job autonomy and supportive work relationships). It is characterized by extreme tiredness, reduced ability to regulate cognitive and emotional processes, and mental distancing. Burnout has been demonstrated to be correlated with anxiety and depression, a potential predictor of broader mental health challenges. 2 Previous meta-analytic findings demonstrate moderate positive correlations of burnout with anxiety and depression—suggesting that anxiety and depression are related to burnout but represent different constructs (Katerina Georganta et al., “The relationship between burnout, depression, and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” Frontiers in Psychology , March 2019, Volume 10, Article 284). When used in this article, burnout does not imply a clinical condition.
Research shows that, when asked about aspects of their jobs that undermine their mental health and well-being, 8 Paula Davis, Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience , Philadelphia, PA: Wharton School Press, 2021. employees frequently cite the feeling of always being on call, unfair treatment, unreasonable workload, low autonomy, and lack of social support. 9 Jennifer Moss, The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It , Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2021. Those are not challenges likely to be reversed with wellness programs. In fact, decades of research suggest that interventions targeting only individuals are far less likely to have a sustainable impact on employee health than systemic solutions, including organizational-level interventions. 10 Hanno Hoven et al., “Effects of organisational-level interventions at work on employees’ health: A systematic review,” BMC Public Health , 2014, Volume 14, Number 135.
Since many employers aren’t employing a systemic approach, many have weaker improvements in burnout and employee mental health and well-being than they would expect, given their investments.
Organizations pay a high price for failure to address workplace factors 11 Gunnar Aronsson et al., “A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and burnout symptoms,” BMC Public Health , 2017, Volume 17, Article 264. that strongly correlate with burnout, 12 Sangeeta Agrawal and Ben Wigert, “Employee burnout, part 1: The 5 main causes,” Gallup, July 12, 2018. such as toxic behavior. 13 The high cost of a toxic workplace culture: How culture impacts the workforce — and the bottom line , Society for Human Resource Management, September 2019. A growing body of evidence, including our research in this report, sheds light on how burnout and its correlates may lead to costly organizational issues such as attrition. 14 Caio Brighenti et al., “Why every leader needs to worry about toxic culture,” MIT Sloan Management Review, March 16, 2022. Unprecedented levels of employee turnover—a global phenomenon we describe as the Great Attrition —make these costs more visible. Hidden costs to employers also include absenteeism, lower engagement, and decreased productivity. 15 Eric Garton, “Employee burnout is a problem with the company, not the person,” Harvard Business Review , April 6, 2017.
The McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) is an enduring, non-profit-generating global entity within McKinsey. MHI strives to catalyze actions across continents, sectors, and communities to achieve material improvements in health, empowering people to lead their best possible lives. MHI is fostering a strong network of organizations committed to this aspiration, including employers globally who are committed to supporting the health of their workforce and broader communities.
MHI has a near-term focus on the urgent priority of mental health, with launch of a flagship initiative around employee mental health and well-being. By convening leading employers, MHI aims to collect global data, synthesize insights, and drive innovation at scale. Through collaboration, we can truly make a difference, learn together, and co-create solutions for workplaces to become enablers of health—in a way that is good for business, for employees, and for the communities in which they live.
To stay updated about MHI’s initiative on employee mental health and well-being sign up at McKinsey.com/mhi/contact-us .
In this article, we discuss findings of a recent McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) (see sidebar “The McKinsey Health Institute: Join us!”) global survey that sheds light on frequently overlooked workplace factors underlying employee mental health and well-being in organizations around the world. We conclude by teeing up eight questions for reflection along with recommendations on how organizations can address employee mental-health and well-being challenges by taking a systemic approach focused on changing the causes rather than the symptoms of poor outcomes. While there is no well-established playbook, we suggest employers can and should respond through interventions focused on prevention rather than remediation.
To better understand the disconnection between employer efforts and rising employee mental-health and well-being challenges (something we have observed since the start of the pandemic ), between February and April 2022 we conducted a global survey of nearly 15,000 employees and 1,000 HR decision makers in 15 countries. 16 Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The combined population of the selected countries correspond to approximately 70 percent of the global total.
The workplace dimensions assessed in our survey included toxic workplace behavior, sustainable work, inclusivity and belonging, supportive growth environment, freedom from stigma, organizational commitment, leadership accountability, and access to resources. 17 The associations of all these factors with employee health and well-being have been extensively explored in the academic literature. That literature heavily informed the development of our survey instrument. We have psychometrically validated this survey across 15 countries including its cross-cultural factorial equivalence. For certain outcome measures we collaborated with academic experts who kindly offered us their validated scales including the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT), the Distress Screener, and the Adaptability Scale referenced below. Those dimensions were analyzed against four work-related outcomes—intent to leave, work engagement, job satisfaction, and organization advocacy—as well as four employee mental-health outcomes—symptoms of anxiety, burnout, depression, and distress. 18 Instruments used were the Burnout Assessment Tool (Steffie Desart et al., User manual - Burnout assessment tool [BAT ] , - Version 2.0, July 2020) (burnout symptoms); Distress Screener (4DSQ; JR Anema et al., “Validation study of a distress screener,” Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation , 2009, Volume 19) (distress); GAD-2 assessment (Priyanka Bhandari et al., “Using Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 [GAD-2] and GAD-7 in a primary care setting,” Cureus , May 20, 2021, Volume 12, Number 5) (anxiety symptoms); and the PHQ-2 assessment (Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9 & PHQ-2], American Psychological Association) (depression symptoms). Individual adaptability was also assessed 19 In this article, “adaptability” refers to the “affective adaptability” which is one sub-dimension of The Adaptability Scale instrument (Michel Meulders and Karen van Dam, “The adaptability scale: Development, internal consistency, and initial validity evidence,” European Journal of Psychological Assessment , 2020, Volume 37, Number 2). (see sidebar “What we measured”).
Workplace factors assessed in our survey included:
Health outcomes assessed in our survey included:
Work-related outcomes assessed in our survey included:
Our survey pointed to a persistent disconnection between how employees and employers perceive mental health and well-being in organizations. We see an average 22 percent gap between employer and employee perceptions—with employers consistently rating workplace dimensions associated with mental health and well-being more favorably than employees. 20 Our survey did not link employers and employees’ responses. Therefore, these numbers are indicative of a potential gap that could be found within companies.
In this report—the first of a broader series on employee mental health from the McKinsey Health Institute—we will focus on burnout, its workplace correlates, and implications for leaders. On average, one in four employees surveyed report experiencing burnout symptoms. 21 Represents global average of respondents experiencing burnout symptoms (per items from Burnout Assessment Tool) sometimes, often, or always. These high rates were observed around the world and among various demographics (Exhibit 1), 22 Our survey findings demonstrate small but statistically significant differences between men and women, with women reporting higher rates of burnout symptoms (along with symptoms of distress, depression, and anxiety). Differences between demographic variables across countries will be discussed in our future publications. and are consistent with global trends. 23 Ashley Abramson, “Burnout and stress are everywhere,” Monitor on Psychology , January 1, 2022, Volume 53, Number 1.
So, what is behind pervasive burnout challenges worldwide? Our research suggests that employers are overlooking the role of the workplace in burnout and underinvesting in systemic solutions.
In all 15 countries and across all dimensions assessed, toxic workplace behavior was the biggest predictor of burnout symptoms and intent to leave by a large margin 24 Measured as a function of predictive power of the dimensions assessed; predictive power was estimated based on share of outcome variability associated with each dimension; based on regression models applied to cross-sectional data (that is, measured at one point in time), rather than longitudinal data (that is, measured over time); causal relationships have not been established. —predicting more than 60 percent of the total global variance. For positive outcomes (including work engagement, job satisfaction, and organization advocacy), the impact of factors assessed was more distributed—with inclusivity and belonging, supportive growth environment, sustainable work, and freedom from stigma predicting most outcomes (Exhibit 2).
In all 15 countries and across all dimensions assessed, toxic workplace behavior had the biggest impact predicting burnout symptoms and intent to leave by a large margin.
Across the 15 countries in the survey, toxic workplace behavior is the single largest predictor of negative employee outcomes, including burnout symptoms (see sidebar “What is toxic workplace behavior?”). One in four employees report experiencing high rates of toxic behavior at work. At a global level, high rates were observed across countries, demographic groups—including gender, organizational tenure, age, virtual/in-person work, manager and nonmanager roles—and industries. 25 Differences between demographic variables across countries will be discussed in our future articles.
Toxic workplace behavior is interpersonal behavior that leads to employees feeling unvalued, belittled, or unsafe, such as unfair or demeaning treatment, non-inclusive behavior, sabotaging, cutthroat competition, abusive management, and unethical behavior from leaders or coworkers. Selected questions from this dimension include agreement with the statements “My manager ridicules me,” “I work with people who belittle my ideas,” and “My manager puts me down in front of others.”
Toxic workplace behaviors are a major cost for employers—they are heavily implicated in burnout, which correlates with intent to leave and ultimately drives attrition. In our survey, employees who report experiencing high levels of toxic behavior 26 “High” represents individuals in the top quartile of responses and “low” represents individuals in the bottom quartile of responses. at work are eight times more likely to experience burnout symptoms (Exhibit 3). In turn, respondents experiencing burnout symptoms were six times more likely to report they intend to leave their employers in the next three to six months (consistent with recent data pointing to toxic culture as the single largest predictor of resignation during the Great Attrition, ten times more predictive than compensation alone 27 Charles Sull et al., “Toxic culture is driving the Great Resignation,” MIT Sloan Management Review, January 11, 2022. and associated with meaningful organizational costs 28 Rasmus Hougaard, “To stop the Great Resignation, we must fight dehumanization at work,” Potential Project, 2022. ). The opportunity for employers is clear. Studies show that intent to leave may correlate with two- to three-times higher 29 Bryan Bohman et al., “Estimating institutional physician turnover attributable to self-reported burnout and associated financial burden: A case study,” BMC Health Services Research , November 27, 2018, Volume 18, Number 1. rates of attrition; conservative estimates of the cost of replacing employees range from one-half to two times their annual salary. Even without accounting for costs associated with burnout—including organizational commitment 30 Michael Leiter and Christina Maslach, “The impact of interpersonal environment on burnout and organizational commitment,” Journal of Organizational Behavior , October 1988, Volume 9, Number 4. and higher rates of sick leave and absenteeism 31 Arnold B. Bakker et al., “Present but sick: A three-wave study on job demands, presenteeism and burnout,” Career Development International , 2009, Volume 14, Number 1. —the business case for addressing it is compelling. The alternative—not addressing it—can lead to a downward spiral in individual and organizational performance. 32 Arnold B. Bakker et al., “Present but sick: A three-wave study on job demands, presenteeism and burnout,” Career Development International , 2009, Volume 14, Number 1.
Toxic behavior is not an easy challenge to address. Some employers may believe the solution is simply training people to become more resilient.
There is merit in investing in adaptability and resiliency skill building . Research indicates that employees who are more adaptable tend to have an edge in managing change and adversity. 33 Karen van Dam, “Employee adaptability to change at work: A multidimensional, resource-based framework,” from The Psychology of Organizational Change: Viewing Change from the Employee’s Perspective , Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2013; Jacqueline Brassey et al., Advancing Authentic Confidence Through Emotional Flexibility: An Evidence-Based Playbook of Insights, Practices and Tools to Shape Your Future , second edition, Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press, 2019; B+B Vakmedianet B.V. Zeist, Netherlands (to be published Q3 2022). We see that edge reflected in our survey findings: adaptability acts as a buffer 34 Estimated buffering effect illustrated in Exhibit 4. to the impact of damaging workplace factors (such as toxic behaviors), while magnifying the benefit of supportive workplace factors (such as a supportive growth environment) (Exhibit 4). In a recent study, employees engaging in adaptability training experienced three times more improvement in leadership dimensions and seven times more improvement in self-reported well-being than those in the control group. 35 McKinsey’s People and Organization Performance - Adaptability Learning Program; multirater surveys showed improvements in adaptability outcomes, including performance in role, sustainment of well-being, successfully adapting to unplanned circumstances and change, optimism, development of new knowledge and skills; well-being results were based on self-reported progress as a result of the program.
However, employers who see building resilience and adaptability skills in individuals as the sole solution to toxic behavior and burnout challenges are misguided. Here is why.
Individual skills cannot compensate for unsupportive workplace factors. When it comes to the effect of individual skills, leaders should be particularly cautious not to misinterpret “favorable” outcomes (for example, buffered impact of toxic behaviors across more adaptable employees) as absence of underlying workplace issues that should be addressed. 36 Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, “To prevent burnout, hire better bosses,” Harvard Business Review , August 23, 2019.
Also, while more adaptable employees are better equipped to work in poor environments, they are less likely to tolerate them. In our survey, employees with high adaptability were 60 percent more likely to report intent to leave their organization if they experienced high levels of toxic behavior at work than those with low adaptability (which may possibly relate to a higher level of self-confidence 37 Brassey et al. found that as a result of a learning program, employees who developed emotional flexibility skills, a concept related to affective adaptability but also strongly linked to connecting with purpose, developed a higher self-confidence over time; Jacqueline Brassey et al., “Emotional flexibility and general self-efficacy: A pilot training intervention study with knowledge workers,” PLOS ONE , October 14, 2020, Volume 15, Number 10. ). Therefore, relying on improving employee adaptability without addressing broader workplace factors puts employers at an even higher risk of losing some of its most resilient, adaptable employees.
Employees with high adaptability were 60 percent more likely to report intent to leave their organization if they experienced high levels of toxic behavior at work than those with low adaptability.
We often think of employee mental health, well-being, and burnout as a personal problem. That’s why most companies have responded to symptoms by offering resources focused on individuals such as wellness programs.
However, the findings in our global survey and research are clear. Burnout is experienced by individuals, but the most powerful drivers of burnout are systemic organizational imbalances across job demands and job resources. So, employers can and should view high rates of burnout as a powerful warning sign that the organization—not the individuals in the workforce—needs to undergo meaningful systematic change.
Employers can and should view high rates of burnout as a powerful warning sign that the organization—not the individuals in the workforce—needs to undergo meaningful systematic change.
Taking a systemic approach means addressing both toxic workplace behavior and redesigning work to be inclusive, sustainable, and supportive of individual learning and growth, including leader and employee adaptability skills. It means rethinking organizational systems, processes, and incentives to redesign work, job expectations, and team environments.
As an employer, you can’t “yoga” your way out of these challenges. Employers who try to improve burnout without addressing toxic behavior are likely to fail. Our survey shows that improving all other organization factors assessed (without addressing toxic behavior) does not meaningfully improve reported levels of burnout symptoms. Yet, when toxic behavior levels are low, each additional intervention contributes to reducing negative outcomes and increasing positive ones.
The interactive graphic shows the estimated interplay between the drivers and outcomes, based on our survey data (Exhibit 5).
Taking a preventative, systemic approach—focused on addressing the roots of the problem (as opposed to remediating symptoms)—is hard. But the upside for employers is a far greater ability to attract and retain valuable talent over time.
We see a parallel between the evolution of global supply chains and talent. Many companies optimized supply chains for “just in time” delivery, and talent was optimized to drive operational efficiency and effectiveness. As supply chains come under increasing pressure, many companies recognize the need to redesign and optimize supply chains for resilience and sustainability, and the need to take an end-to-end approach to the solutions. The same principles apply to talent.
We acknowledge that the factors associated with improving employee mental health and well-being (including organizational-, team-, and individual-level factors) are numerous and complex. And taking a whole-systems approach is not easy.
Despite the growing momentum toward better employee mental health and well-being (across business and academic communities), we’re still early on the journey. We don’t yet have sufficient evidence to conclude which interventions work most effectively—or a complete understanding of why they work and how they affect return on investment.
That said, efforts to mobilize the organization to rethink work—in ways that are compatible with both employee and employer goals—are likely to pay off in the long term. To help spark that conversation in your organization, we offer eight targeted questions and example strategies with the potential to address some of the burnout-related challenges discussed in this article.
This is fundamental to success. When a large organization achieved a 7 percent reduction in employee burnout rates (compared with an 11 percent increase in the national average within the industry over the same period), the CEO believed that leadership and sustained attention from the highest level of the organization were the “key to making progress.” 38 John H. Noseworthy and Tait D Shanafelt, “Executive leadership and physician well‐being: Nine organizational strategies to promote engagement and reduce burnout,” Mayo Clinic Proceedings , January 2017, Volume 92, Number 1. Senior executives recognized employee mental health and well-being as a strategic priority. Executives publicly acknowledged the issues and listened to employee needs through a wide range of formats—including town halls, workshops, and employee interviews (our research suggests that leaders are not listening to their people nearly enough). They prioritized issues and defined clear, time-bound measurable goals around them—with a standardized measure of burnout being given equal importance to other key performance metrics (financial metrics, safety/quality, employee turnover, and customer satisfaction). Although anonymous at the level of the individual, results were aggregated at division/department level to allow executive leadership to focus attention and resources where they were most needed. 39 Liselotte Dyrbye et al., “Physician burnout: Contributors, consequences and solutions,” Journal of Internal Medicine , 2018, Volume 283, Number 6. This example highlights how CEOs have the ability to create meaningful change through listening to employees and prioritizing strategies to reduce burnout.
Eliminating toxic workplace behavior is not an easy task. Organizations that tackle toxic behavior effectively deploy a set of integrated work practices to confront the problem, 40 Robert I. Sutton, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t , first edition, New York, NY: Business Plus, 2010. and see treatment of others as an integral part of assessing an employee’s performance. Manifestations of toxic behavior 41 “Why every leader,” 2022. are flagged, repeat offenders either change or leave, and leaders take time to become aware of the impact their behavior has on others. If you lead part of an organization, looking at your own behaviors, and what you tolerate in your own organization, is a good place to start. 42 “ Author Talks: How to handle your work jerk ,” March 29, 2022.
Research shows that leaders’ development of self-regulation increases followers’ ratings of their effectiveness and is associated with higher team financial performance as well as a higher final team grade compared with a control group. The benefits of self-regulation also improved leaders’ development of task-relevant competencies. 1 Robin Martin and JooBee Yeow, “The role of self-regulation in developing leaders: A longitudinal field experiment,” Leadership Quarterly , October 2013, Volume 24, Number 5. Furthermore, building employees’ resilience and adaptability skills leads to a higher sense of agency and self-efficacy, 2 Jacqueline Brassey et al., “Emotional flexibility and general self-efficacy: A pilot training intervention study with knowledge workers,” PLOS ONE , October 14, 2020, Volume 15, Number 10; and Jacqueline Brassey et al., Advancing Authentic Confidence Through Emotional Flexibility: An Evidence-Based Playbook of Insights, Practices and Tools to Shape Your Future , second edition, Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press, 2019; B+B Vakmedianet B.V. Zeist, Netherlands (to be published Q3 2022). which is related to reduced burnout and improved performance. 3 Charles Benight et al., “Associations between job burnout and self-efficacy: A meta-analysis,” Anxiety, Stress, & Coping , 2016, Volume 29, Issue 4; and Alex Stajkovic, “Self-efficacy and work-related performance: A meta-analysis,” Psychological Bulletin , 1998, Volume 124, Number 2.
Another component of eliminating toxic behavior is cultivating supportive, psychologically safe work environments , where toxic behaviors are less likely to spread across the organization. 43 Annie McKee, “Neutralize your toxic boss,” Harvard Business Review , September 24, 2008. Effective leaders know that emotional contagion 44 John T. Cacioppo et al., Emotional Contagion , Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1994. may go both ways: displaying vulnerability and compassion fuels more compassionate teams; displaying toxic behavior fuels more toxic teams. 45 Michael Housman and Dylan Minor, Toxic workers , Harvard Business School working paper, No. 16-057, October 2015 (revised November 2015). There are two caveats: toxic behavior may not be intentional—particularly if individuals are not equipped to respond with calm and compassion under pressure—and regardless of intent, toxic behavior spreads faster and wider than good behavior. 46 “To prevent burnout,” 2019. To prevent unintentional dissemination of toxic behaviors, role modeling from adaptable , self-regulating, compassionate leaders may help (see sidebar “Leaders with higher self-regulation may be better, less toxic leaders”).
Most leaders recognize the established associations between performance and inclusion , but inclusion does not happen by accident . Inclusion is a multifaceted construct that must be addressed comprehensively and proactively. Most companies define inclusion too narrowly and thus address it too narrowly as well. Over the past three years, we’ve broadened our perspective on how to create truly inclusive workplaces and developed a modern inclusion model . The model includes 17 practices (based on frequency of desired behaviors) and six outcomes (based on perceptions of effectiveness). Each practice falls into one of three relationships that shape workplace inclusion: organizational systems, leaders, and peers/teammates.
The 17 inclusive-workplace practices , when done consistently well, drive workplace inclusion and equity for all employees by providing clarity into actions that matter. For example, among employees working in hybrid models , work–life support was the top practice employees desired improvements on—with nearly half of employees recommending prioritizing policies that support flexibility—including extended parental leave, flexible hours, and work-from-home policies.
A truly inclusive workplace implements systems that minimize conscious and unconscious bias , allowing employees to express themselves and connect with each other. It also features leaders who not only advocate for team members and treat them impartially but also uphold and support all organizational systems and practices . For example, one employer defined data-driven targets for the representation and advancement of diverse talent across dimensions (beyond gender and ethnicity) and role types (executive, management, technical, board)—leveraging powerful analytics to track progress and foster transparency along the way.
Evidence suggests that individual growth, learning, and development programs are effective 47 Arnold B. Bakker and Evangelia Demerouti, “Towards a model of work engagement,” Career Development International , 2008, Volume 13, Issue 3. ways to combat burnout and to retain and engage employees, and therefore are important for addressing growing talent and skills shortages within organizations. Employers who “double down” on talent redeployment, mobility, reskilling, and upskilling tend to see improvement across a range of financial, organizational, and employee experience metrics. In a recent study of extensive employee data, offering lateral career opportunities was two-and-half times more predictive of employee retention than compensation, and 12 times more predictive than promotions 48 “Why every leader,” 2022. —signaling an opportunity for leaders to support employee desires to learn, explore, and grow way beyond traditional career progression.
Investing in your employees’ capabilities can drive financial returns, is often cheaper than hiring, and signals to employees that they are valued and have an important role in the organization.
Promoting sustainable work goes beyond managing workload. It’s about enabling employees to have a sense of control and predictability, flexibility, and sufficient time for daily recovery. It’s also about leading with compassion and empathy 49 “It’s time to eliminate bad bosses. They are harmful and expensive,” Potential Project, The Human Leader, April 2022. —tailoring interventions based on where, when, and how work can be done , and how different groups are more likely to (re)establish socio-emotional ties after a long period of isolation and loss of social cohesion .
One technology company is using real-time data on employee preferences to rapidly test and iterate solutions that work for specific groups around return-to-office options. To find solutions that work for your employees, consider adopting a test-and-learn mindset. This approach can help the organization make progress while adapting as context evolves (a hallmark of more productive organizations).
Many organizations consider people leadership criteria in their performance management. Yet, there is substantial room to grow when it comes to employers providing transparency around employee mental-health and well-being objectives and metrics. 50 Workplace Mental Health Blogs , One Mind, “Fix performance management by aligning it with employee mental health,” blog entry by Daryl Tol, March 2, 2022; Garett Slettebak, “Measuring progress on workplace mental health”, One Mind at Work, March 24, 2022.
Organizations that are doing this well have set clear expectations for managers to lead in a way that is supportive of employee mental health and well-being. 51 Taylor Adams et al., Mind the workplace: Work health survey 2021 , Mental Health America, 2021. They offer training to help managers identify, proactively ask about, and listen to employees’ mental-health and well-being needs. They also introduce mental-health “pulse” checks and incorporate relevant questions into the broader employee satisfaction surveys, to establish a baseline and track trends in how employees are feeling. Discussion on employee mental health and well-being can be incorporated into regular leadership meetings, including concerns, risks, and potential actions.
To encourage leaders to lead by example and increase their accountability, some employers embed employee mental-health support into leaders’ reviews based on anonymous upward feedback from their teams. Finally, some companies are exploring if they can go even further and tie incentives to short- and long-term employee mental-health and well-being objectives.
As noted in a previous McKinsey article , the majority of employers and employees acknowledge the presence of stigma 52 In the context of employee mental health, stigma is defined as a level of shame, prejudice, or discrimination toward people with mental-health or substance-use conditions. in their workplaces. Stigma has been shown to have real costs to workforce productivity, often exacerbating underlying conditions because of people being afraid to seek help for mental-health needs and driving down an employee’s self-worth and engagement.
We see several actions that organizations are taking to eliminate stigma. 53 Erica Coe, Jenny Cordina, Kana Enomoto, and Nikhil Seshan, “ Overcoming stigma: Three strategies toward better mental health in the workplace ,” July 23, 2021. Leading by example can make a difference, with senior leaders stepping forward to describe personal struggles with mental health, using nonstigmatizing language. 54 Evelien Brouwers et al., “To disclose or not to disclose: A multi-stakeholder focus group study on mental health issues in the work environment. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation , 2020, Volume 30, Number 1. Leaders showing vulnerability helps to remove shame and promote a psychologically safe culture. 55 Global thriving at work framework , MindForward Alliance, 2020.
Stigma can also be reduced by companies prioritizing mental wellness as critical for peak performance instead of rewarding overwork at the expense of rest and renewal—rewarding an “athlete” mindset instead of overemphasizing a “hero.” This can begin to shift perception of signs of burnout or other mental-health needs as being indicative of a moral failing. Finally, creating a dedicated role to support employee mental health and well-being and appointing a senior leader, such as chief wellness officer, will increase awareness and show commitment.
Leaders should evaluate whether mental-health and well-being resources are at parity with physical-health benefits and how frequently they are being used by employees. An increasing number of employers have expanded access to mental-health services 56 Charles Ingoglia, “Now more than ever, employers must provide mental health support for employees,” National Council for Mental Wellbeing, May 4, 2022. ; however, research shows that almost 70 percent of employees find it challenging to access those services.
In a previous survey , 45 percent of respondents who had left their jobs cited the need to take care of family as an influential factor in their decision (with a similar proportion of respondents who are considering quitting also citing the demands of family care). Expanding childcare, nursing services, or other home- and family-focused benefits could help keep such employees from leaving and show that you value them. Patagonia, long the standard-bearer for progressive workplace policies, retains nearly 100 percent of its new mothers with on-site childcare and other benefits for parents.
Never in history have organizations around the world devoted so much attention and capital to improving employee mental health and well-being. It is lamentable that these investments are not always providing a good return regarding improved outcomes. Employers that take the time to understand the problem at hand—and pursue a preventative, systemic approach focused on causes instead of symptoms—should see material improvements in outcomes and succeed in attracting and retaining valuable talent. More broadly, employers globally have an opportunity to play a pivotal role in helping people achieve material improvements in health. With collaboration and shared commitment, employers can make a meaningful difference in the lives of their employees and the communities they live in.
The McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) is collaborating with leading organizations around the world to achieve material improvements in health—adding years to life and life to years. As part of that, MHI is focused on improving employee mental health and well-being at scale—in a way that is good for business, for employees, and for the communities they live in.
To stay updated about MHI’s initiative on employee mental health and well-being, sign up at McKinsey.com/mhi/contact-us .
Jacqueline Brassey is a director of research science in McKinsey’s Luxemburg office, Erica Coe is a partner in the Atlanta office, Martin Dewhurst is a senior partner in the London office, Kana Enomoto is a senior expert in the Washington, DC, office, and Barbara Jeffery is a partner in the London office; they are all leaders with McKinsey Health Institute (MHI). Renata Giarola , in the Southern California office, and Brad Herbig , in the Philadelphia office, are consultants with MHI.
The authors wish to thank Yueyang Chen, Elena Chit, Aaron de Smet, Soheil Eshghi, Lars Hartenstein, Tom Latkovic, David Mendelsohn, Roxy Merkand, Isidora Mitic, Bill Schaninger, Wilmar Schaufeli, Jeris Stueland, Berend Terluin, Karen van Dam, and Marieke van Hoffen for their contributions to this article.
This article was edited by Allan Gold, a senior editorial advisor in Washington, DC, and Elizabeth Newman, an executive editor in the Chicago office.
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Compassion: the heart of nursing, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, effective communication: building trust and collaboration, adaptability and flexibility: thriving in a dynamic environment.
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As I step into the world of nursing, I am filled with excitement and anticipation. Nursing is not just a profession for me; it is a calling, a vocation that I have been drawn to since a young age. I have always had a deep desire [...]
From a young age, I have always been drawn to the field of healthcare. Whether it was tending to my siblings' bruises or volunteering at the local hospital, I felt a deep sense of fulfillment in helping others. As I grew older, [...]
Behaviourist theory provides a valuable framework for understanding and influencing human behavior in nursing practice. By applying the principles of behaviourist theory, nurses can promote positive behaviors, modify unhealthy [...]
The Nursing Concept in Nursing PracticeImagine you find yourself in a hospital room, surrounded by medical equipment and unfamiliar faces. You feel vulnerable and anxious, unsure of what lies ahead. Suddenly, a nurse walks in [...]
Nursing theory is an important component of nursing practice, guiding the way nurses care for their patients and make clinical decisions. One example of a grand nursing theory that has greatly influenced the field of nursing is [...]
Homeopathy is a sheltered, regular type of prescription, in light of the act of treating like with like. Homeopathy is gotten from the Greek words homios, which means like or comparative, and italics, which means enduring. [...]
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Problem-solving in nursing is the act of utilizing critical thinking and decision-making skills to identify, analyze, and address problems or challenges encountered by nurses in the healthcare setting. Problem-solving in nursing can be related to specific patient needs or may be related to staff issues.
Health care constantly evolves, so problem solving and ingenuity are skills often used out of necessity. Tackling a problem requires considering multiple options to develop a solution. ... These skills help nurses make informed decisions based on facts, data, and evidence to determine the best solution to a problem. Problem-Solving Examples in ...
A physician with a master's degree in biomedical informatics, Chin has started two health tech companies that employ artificial intelligence to solve problems. "I think as a physician, you always feel like things can be better," he said. "When you are in med school, you learn a lot of medical knowledge.
More research is needed to better understand how creativity manifests during complex problem solving in health care. 18 ... with the experiences of colleagues or patients—was the third behavior regularly observed to foster creative problem solving for LSL coalitions. An example of empathizing with colleagues at referring facilities was ...
Critical thinking/problem-solving skills should emphasize self-examination. It should teach an individual to accomplish this using a series of steps that progress in a logical fashion, stressing that critical thinking is a progression of logical thought, not an unguided process. Pedagogy.
Problem solving in health and social care is a systematic process employed to address and overcome challenges that arise in the provision of care to individuals and communities. This process is integral to ensuring effective, efficient, and high-quality services that meet the varying needs of patients and service users.
Sandra Potthoff, PhD and Justine Mishek, MHA co-authors of Applied Problem-Solving in Healthcare Management, and Springer Publishing Company invite you to vi...
With burnout and staff turnover in health care continuing to rise at alarming rates, this white paper describes a framework with nine critical components to improve joy in work and workforce well-being. ... 5 Whys tool instructions, example, and template; The key to solving a problem is to first truly understand it. Often, our focus shifts too ...
Problem-solving The same basic processes of decision-making are used—or should be— by the individual healthcare provider on a daily basis when solving clinical problems even though the processes are less formal. High benefit, low cost/effort •Ensure handwashing compliance •Use surgical/procedure checklists High benefit, high cost/effort
This story of everyday, incremental problem solving and iterative problem definition is the sort that occurs regularly in healthcare, and it illustrates the fluidity of problems. In Dr. Smith's story the issue of reframing problems was made explicit as he told the story during his interview, but in everyday practice most likely it happens ...
The Problem-solving Process Usually applied to public health problems, this series of steps offers a framework through which one can approach just about any problem that involves groups of people.
There are 5 primary strategies to use when looking for creative ways to solve problems in healthcare: Brainstorming. Thinking hats. Problem reversal. S.W.O.T. Role-playing. We all have to deal with problems, not only at work, but also in our personal lives. Planning a wedding or a party, finding child care, paying bills, trying to arrange ...
Here's how you can apply problem-solving frameworks to make effective decisions as a healthcare manager. Powered by AI and the LinkedIn community. 1. Identify Issue. Be the first to add your ...
To solve a problem you need to generate solutions. However, the obvious solution may not necessarily be the best. To generate solutions, a mixture of creative and analytical thinking is needed (Bransford, 1993). Creativity is about escaping from preconceived ideas that block the way to finding an innovative solution to a problem.
Another example of how creative problem solving was used with impressive results is the review of the leave of absence (LOA) process in NBRHC's Regional Specialized Mental Health Programs. Laurie Wardell, Director, Mental Health, explains how there was an opportunity early last year to review some of the practises with the discharge process ...
The OODA Loop can be subdivided further into an eight-step problem solving process. Observe. Step 1: Clarify the Problem. This is a critical step. You need to recognize the correct problem and be sure it is completely understood by all. It helps to state the problem by developing a "problem statement" in terms of what, where, when, and the ...
Creating culture of problem-solving is a focus of Lisa Yerian, MD, Medical Director of Continuous Improvement at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Yerian is a steward of the Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model, which is changing the way caregivers approach their work. She and her team found that the best path to sustaining a culture of improvement is to ...
This is the fourth in a series of five articles This article reviews our current understanding of the cognitive processes involved in diagnostic reasoning in clinical medicine. It describes and analyses the psychological processes employed in identifying and solving diagnostic problems and reviews errors and pitfalls in diagnostic reasoning in the light of two particularly influential ...
Step 2: Analyze the Problem. Break down the problem to get an understanding of the problem. Determine how the problem developed. Determine the impact of the problem. Step 3: Develop Solutions. Brainstorm and list all possible solutions that focus on resolving the identified problem. Do not eliminate any possible solutions at this stage.
Design thinking in Healthcare is an almost perfectly natural fit. On the front end of Healthcare are the nurses who are naturally empathic. A key approach necessary for successful design thinking. Their role is to intimately understand the needs and take care of the problems of their patients. Their daily approach to problem solving requires ...
Purpose. Problem solving has been defined as "a goal-directed sequence of cognitive and affective operations as well as behavioural responses to adapting to internal or external demands or challenges. Studies have shown that some nurses lack rational thinking and decision-making ability to identify patients' health problems and make ...
Purpose A3 problem solving is part of the Lean management approach to quality improvement (QI).However, few tools are available to assess A3 problem-solving skills. The authors sought to develop an assessment tool for problem-solving A3s with an accompanying self-instruction package and to test agreement in assessments made by individuals who teach A3 problem solving.
If you need a tech solution to address other data challenges—like managing patient information, for example—you might be better off searching for software that addresses those technology issues in healthcare more specifically. 5. Data Security. Another challenge mentioned by multiple respondents was data security.
Abstract. Health services organization managers at all levels are constantly confronted with problems. Conditions encountered that initiate the need for problem solving are opportunity, threat, crisis, deviation, and improvement. A general problem-solving model presenting an orderly process by which managers can approach this important task is ...
The course will be delivered via HBS Online's course platform and immerse learners in real-world examples from experts at industry-leading organizations. By the end of the course, participants will be able to: Explore the science of teamwork, focusing on the psychological and sociological aspects of teaming, collaboration, and defining effective outcomes.
According to the World Health Organization, burnout is an occupational phenomenon. It is driven by a chronic imbalance between job demands 1 Job demands are physical, social, or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort and are therefore associated with certain physiological and psychological costs—for example, work overload and expectations ...
Although problem-solving is a skill in its own right, a subset of seven skills can help make the process of problem-solving easier. These include analysis, communication, emotional intelligence, resilience, creativity, adaptability, and teamwork. 1. Analysis. As a manager, you'll solve each problem by assessing the situation first.
Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills. Besides compassion, a good nurse should possess strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Nurses often encounter complex situations that require quick thinking and effective decision-making. They must be able to analyze information, identify problems, and develop appropriate solutions.