The COVID-19 pandemic placed incredible strain on the health and public safety workforce – who, by the very nature of their work, faced high risk of exposure while being called on to meet tremendous healthcare and service demands. Even before the pandemic, mental health, burnout, and moral injury were rising issues for this workforce. During COVID, more than 50% of health workers reported burnout and 40% reported anxiety/depression - both are associated with increased intent to leave jobs. Though the critical period of the COVID-19 pandemic may be waning, the experience of burnout and moral injury among health and public safety workers persists. To learn more about health worker burnout and moral injury, listen to the The WCC Podcast: Confronting Burnout and Moral Injury.
In March 2022, Congress passed the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act - a first of its kind piece of legislation that established grants to address suicide, mental health, and burnout among health professionals. While the Dr. Lorna Breen Act has yet to be funded, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provided $120 million for grants to establish training and other evidence-informed programs to address burnout and promote mental health in the health and public safety workforce. Grantees include 44 organizations seeking to address these pressing challenges and one technical assistance center, the Workplace Change Collaborative.
The Workplace Change Collaborative (WCC) is funded by HRSA to (1) support the 44 grantees and (2) create a national framework to advance new thinking and identify strategies to address burnout and moral injury. The framework emphasizes organization and system-level changes in recognition that threats to personal and professional well-being originate in or are compounded by upstream drivers. The framework aims to support efforts by organizational leaders, policymakers, workers, learners, and other stakeholders to address well-being in the workforce.
Explore peer-reviewed research and other publications, tools, and resources. The Resource Library allows you to search by resource types, professions, and topics such as mental health, burnout, and moral injury.
