At a time when burnout has reached crisis levels within the health care industry, the American Association for Physician Leadership® is taking a stance and acting. While many factors contribute to burnout, physicians often cite poor leadership at the core. As the only professional association solely dedicated to physician leadership, and as the leader in this space, we provide the education, tools, resources, and community to combat and prevent burnout. But, most importantly, we are here to create a social movement that fosters a culture of wellness.
Many burnout initiatives focus on physician resilience, but the American Association for Physician Leadership maintains that, to truly prevent burnout, there must be a combination of organizational (systems) change and awareness-building (education) for individuals.
While our educational platforms focus on administrative, managerial, and leadership education and training, we have incorporated physician wellness into our programming for physicians and health care delivery systems.
The American Association for Physician Leadership has created a social movement that is not focused on burnout, but on wellness as a way of life. The association launched its inaugural wellness program in fall 2017 in the desert of Arizona with “Beyond Burnout and Resilience – Enduring Solutions for Transformations”. The program took several physicians through a personal and reflective journey to reconnect with nature and their life’s purpose. Our second program took place in spring 2018 in Boston. In an immersive experience, physicians reflected on their personal journeys and worked toward how they could influence their clinical teams and health systems.
Gaining momentum, we presented our third program, the two-day 2018 Summer Wellness Academy in Chicago, which provided personal and organizational insights into the issue of physician burnout. On day one of the academy, physicians were presented with a series of simple and actionable wellness techniques and expected to gain meaningful takeaways about their work and direction. On day two, they put those techniques into use to identify various types of organizational cultures, working through activities intended to move organizations toward a culture of wellness.
Our wellness community interacts through live academies and our online community. Through our online platform, physicians stay connected to the those they’ve bonded with during association events and programming, access online resources like wellness courses and toolkits, and get the latest the association offers to continue their individual wellness journey and foster the overall movement.
These highly interactive programs give momentum to the physician wellness movement and continually build upon the physician community we foster … because wellness and leadership cannot be one-sided or accomplished in a vacuum.
The American Association for Physician Leadership continues to develop physician-led wellness programming through research and collaboration. Our offerings are customized and always evolving, allowing us to address the complexities of the industry and nuances of each organization. Our programming supports a community of physicians looking to reduce burnout -- especially those that are leading the charge in finding solutions.
We understand physicians operate with a science-based mindset, and data-driven minds require science-based approaches to burnout. That's why we utilize psychometric assessment to help physicians identify the source of their burnout and provide the appropriate education and professional development resources to create a customized action plan.
Allowing for feedback throughout all levels of our programming — whether in live academies and seminars, through our community and online discussions, or through our distance education—we remain agile and iterative in our approach and the application of the most up-to-date solutions.
We support physicians, the delivery systems in which they practice, and organizations and specialties in which they serve. That's why we call for collaboration to amplify the voices for change within all the areas that contribute to this burnout crisis.
The association is committed to:
As we continue to champion for solutions, invest our resources, tell the physicians’ stories, and share the results of our efforts, we must help the industry understand that physicians are at the center of health care and thus the source for solutions as frontline professionals. The industry is well aware that systems have better outcomes when led by physicians, and the quest to conquer burnout is no different. It begins and ends with physicians. It's time to heal the healers.
Check out the latest in news relating to physician wellness and burnout.
Recent reports have shown that the high degree of caregiver burnout, toxic work environments, and a chronically disengaged workforce create significant problems for healthcare organizations.
With 71% of all nonfatal workplace violence occurring in healthcare settings, healthcare workers are four times more likely to experience violence at work compared to those in the private industry
Left unaddressed, physician burnout can significantly diminish the quality of patient care. So much so that, in fact, that it adversely affects not only patient outcomes but the stress level of
Your trusted source for physician leadership and education for over 40 years.
Since 1975, the American Association for Physician Leadership has helped physicians develop their leadership skills through education, career development, thought leadership, and community building.
The American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL) changed its name from the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE) in 2014. We may have changed our name, but we are the same organization that has been serving physician leaders since 1975.
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