Healthcare Leaders’ Perceptions on Burnout and Its Impact on Employee Engagement

Burnout is well-known among health care professionals and presents an occupational danger for individuals working in the health care industry. It is linked to poor health outcomes, lost workdays, high turnover rates, a lack of efficacy in the workplace, and low job satisfaction. Burnout is also a problem for health care leaders tasked with solving this disruption to care delivery within their facilities. Although lack of employee engagement may contribute to burnout, more research is needed to explore this relationship. This research was conducted to help understand how hospital leaders mitigate burnout within their facilities and the tactics being used to increase employee engagement. The conceptual frameworks for the study included the PERMA/PERMA+4 Model. A basic qualitative approach was applied to explore the perceptions of 12 hospital leaders and their experiences related to burnout mitigation and employee engagement. Leaders were chosen from hospitals and health systems in the eastern United States. The resulting thematic codes from the interview data identified finding meaning, feeling engaged, and experiencing fulfillment as professional well-being indicators that helped prevent burnout. Taking care of those who work directly with patients and those who offer indirect support ensures that hospitals and health systems can provide high-quality care to everyone who enters.