"Where You Feel Like a Family Instead of Co-workers": a Mixed Methods Study on Care Teams and Burnout.

Background: Physicians and nurses face high levels of burnout. The role of care teams may be protective against burnout and provide a potential target for future interventions.

Objective: To explore levels of burnout among physicians and nurses and differences in burnout between physicians and nurses, to understand physician and nurse perspectives of their healthcare teams, and to explore the association of the role of care teams and burnout.

Balancing Demands: Determinants of Burnout Reported by Fellows in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

Burnout is common among physicians who care for critically ill patients and is known to contribute to worse patient outcomes. Fellows training in pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM) have risk factors that make them susceptible to burnout; for example, clinical environments that require increased intellectual and emotional demands with long hours. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has recognized the increasing importance of trainee burnout and encourages training programs to address burnout.

A National Survey of Burnout and Depression Among Fellows Training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine: A Special Report by the Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors.

Background: The prevalence of burnout and depressive symptoms is high among physician trainees.

Research Question: What is the burden of burnout and depressive symptoms among fellows training in pulmonary and critical care medicine (PCCM) and what are associated individual fellow, program, and institutional characteristics?

Study Design And Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional electronic survey of fellows enrolled in pulmonary, PCCM, and critical care medicine training programs in the United States to assess burnout and depressive symptoms. Burnout symptoms were measured using the Maslach Burnout Index two-item measure.

Too Many Patients…A Framework to Guide Statewide Allocation of Scarce Mechanical Ventilation During Disasters.

The threat of a catastrophic public health emergency causing life-threatening illness or injury on a massive scale has prompted extensive federal, state, and local preparedness efforts. Modeling studies suggest that an influenza pandemic similar to that of 1918 would require ICU and mechanical ventilation capacity that is significantly greater than what is available. Several groups have published recommendations for allocating life-support measures during a public health emergency.

A Department of Medicine Infrastructure for Patient Safety and Clinical Quality Improvement.

Payers, providers, and patients increasingly recognize the importance of quality and safety in health care. Academic Departments of Medicine can advance quality and safety given the large populations they serve and the broad spectrum of diseases they treat. However, there are only few detailed examples of how quality and safety can be organized.

A Model for the Departmental Quality Management Infrastructure Within an Academic Health System.

As quality improvement and patient safety come to play a larger role in health care, academic medical centers and health systems are poised to take a leadership role in addressing these issues. Academic medical centers can leverage their large integrated footprint and have the ability to innovate in this field. However, a robust quality management infrastructure is needed to support these efforts.

Ethical considerations: care of the critically ill and injured during pandemics and disasters: CHEST consensus statement.

Background: Mass critical care entails time-sensitive decisions and changes in the standard of care that it is possible to deliver. These circumstances increase provider uncertainty as well as patients' vulnerability and may, therefore, jeopardize disciplined, ethical decision-making. Planning for pandemics and disasters should incorporate ethics guidance to support providers who may otherwise make ad hoc patient care decisions that overstep ethical boundaries.