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How Can You Help Improve Clinician Well-Being? Insights from Patient Focus Groups

Why this matters:

Clinician well-being is now recognized as one of the aims of the Quintuple Aim and is essential for a high-performing health system. While the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) framework provides a comprehensive view of the factors contributing to clinician well-being, the role of patients remains largely unexplored.

I am a Clinic Manager

I am a Patient

I am a Clinician

What we did:

Improve working conditions and workload Ensure adequate staffing, training, and resources Reduce bureaucracy and improve systems (e.g., technology)

Be respectful, engaged, and collaborative Build trust and communicate effectively

We interviewed 21 patient partners across four groups and sought their input to explore both problems and solutions. Qualitative analysis of these discussions identified how clinician well-being can be supported at three levels: patient, clinician, and clinical manager.

Set realistic expectation Awareness of job demands

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I am a Clinic Manager

Research Team

I am a Patient

I am a Clinician

Strive towards realistic expectations for what you are capable of at work

"Often, I think there are healthcare professionals who feel like they carry all the responsibility on their shoulders. And when that happens, it’s harder for them, especially when it comes to their mental health."

• Understand your responsibilities and respect your limits

• Aim to communicate frequently and effectively with your co-workers and with specialists

"There’s also the collaboration between doctors, nurses, and specialists (…). I know that now we can access the medical record, but still, there should be more collaboration, more cooperation — meetings between doctors and nurses from time to time — a sense of a team, that they’re not alone, that each person is supported by others."

I am a Clinic Manager

Research Team

I am a Patient

I am a Clinician

Be mindful of the demanding nature of your job

• Be aware that working in healthcare can negatively impact your work-life balance

• Be mindful that due to a combination of illness and/or stress, patients may behave in a way that negatively affects their wellbeing

• Be aware of the effect abrupt changes in a patient’s condition or status can have on them

• Be mindful that patients may not know how the healthcare system works and may require additional help navigating it

I am a Clinic Manager

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

Be Civil

"But patients need to actively listen to their doctor and understand that their doctor has their best interest at heart. And doctors need to actively listen to their patients."

• Do not raise your voice at clinicians
• Ask how your clinician is doing
• Acknowledge and be conscious of your clinician’s hard work
• Be pleasant and open
• Practice active listening
• Be mindful of your clinician’s time

I am a Clinic Manager

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

Trust your Clinician

Be Prepared For Your Appointments

• Be aware of how much weight you give to non-professional opinions such as information obtained via Google

• Do not let your perception of how much a clinician earns jeopardize your trust in their dedication to good care

• Be present and punctual for appointments

• Arrive with a list of questions and priorities

I am a Clinic Manager

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

Be Involved in Your Care

• Follow the advice and instructions from your clinicians
• Seek to understand how the healthcare system works to better accept long wait times
• Keep in mind that your clinician’s obligation is to care, not to cure
• Aim for mutual understanding

"I have a part to play in my care, too. And I have an obligation to learn what I can about my illness. Of course, I can't treat myself, but I can be informed and be a partner in my care."

• Do not be afraid to take the time you need during your appointments
• Understand what constitutes an emergency
• Understand that your care needs may differ from others with similar conditions

I am a Clinic Manager

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

Have a positive & cooperative attitude towards your care

• View your care as a partnership between patient and clinician

• Be empathetic

"I really think the patient's attitude and their involvement in their care really affects the doctor as well, perhaps the nurse also."

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

I am a Clinic Manager

"Something that comes up often is the IT system (…). [Clinicians] aren’t able to see what they need to see. Either it doesn’t connect, or they don’t have access to certain information (…). This [IT] ecosystem is often problematic. It even goes as far as things like outdated computers (…). All of that — it’s clearly daily irritants, several times a day."

Ensure Accessible and Efficient Technology

• Integrate electronic medical records

• Ensure technology works well and is easy to use

Provide Safe and Functional Workspaces

"Recently, someone got injured because a stretcher wasn’t in the right place. The emergency department is overcrowded. So having a work environment that isn’t adapted, that isn’t healthy for things to function properly or to provide good care to patients — it’s really frustrating for [clinicians]."

• Ensure clinicians have a dedicated workspace that is adapted to all their professional needs

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

I am a Clinic Manager

Ensure clinicians are adequately prepared for the realities of their healthcare responsibilities

• Ensure clinicians have adequate clinical training

• Support professional development activities

• Provide technology training, not just access
• Avoid constant staff turnover that disrupts teams and learning

"There’s a lot of staff turnover, a lot of rotation of personnel. So, when a team constantly has to rebuild itself, and there aren’t necessarily employees who are a good fit or who have strong skills and learn quickly — it becomes very difficult at that point for the healthcare professionals on those teams."

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

I am a Clinic Manager

Reduce bureaucracy to ensure care is as accessible as possible

• Allow clinicians to treat more than one issue at a time
• Facilitate interactions with pharmacists for prescriptions and renewals

• Limit complexity in processing patient documents

• Ensure that largescale changes do not hurt the quality of care

• Clearly communicate to patients which services are available at which healthcare organizations/institutions
• Strive towards offering similar services and quality across the province

• Ensure a streamlined billing process for all patients

"I would also say there’s an issue with the diversity of systems (…). There are challenges with centralization and decentralization, and with medical records, for example — like when a patient is in your CIUSSS but has moved, and they’re still technically your patient because they can’t get a doctor in their new region."

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

I am a Clinic Manager

Ensure fair Workload and Compensation

• Prioritize fair workloads
• Hire the appropriate number of clinicians and personnel to prevent understaffing
• Limit clinicians working overly long hours
• Pay clinicians adequately for their work and time

Be mindful of how equity, diversity and inclusion may impact clinicians

"Between billing and colleagues and support in the workforce [sources of stress on clinicians]. And also being female, sometimes being female is also a gender inequality. Gender is a big deal in the workforce."

Research Team

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

I am a Clinic Manager

"If a clinician takes a position that’s available and they really don’t like it, well, they won’t be happy. And that’s going to show in their work. (…) It has to be the right people in the right place. It has to be a choice. We talk about informed consent — well, it should be an informed choice, that if they go work somewhere, it’s because that’s where they actually want to be."

Clinician retention and agency

• Give clinicians a say on where they work

• Limit moving clinicians around too much

"There are some patients who have a high digital literacy level and so they can maybe do things more online, make it easier for the doctor. A quick video conference consultation instead of coming into a busy office. (…) But also be mindful of those who do not have adequate digital literacy levels. When we try to force them to use technology that they're not familiar or comfortable with or they can't even afford, this also leads to frustration and difficulties in the dynamics of the relationships that people may have with [their] clinicians."

Information Accessibility

• Be mindful of patients with low digital literacy

I am a Clinic Manager

I am a Clinician

I am a Patient

Research Team

This initiative originated from patients. It was championed by patient partners, supported by researchers, and carried forward by the research team. Authors and AffiliationsMarie-Dominique Poirier2, Sonia Lussier², Jack Moncado1, Dorsa Salimi¹, *Paula L. Bush¹¹ Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada² Patient Partner, Unité de soutien au système de santé apprenant Québec, Montréal, QC, Canada* Corresponding author: Paula L. Bush

Cite: Salimi, D., Poirier, M.-D., Lussier, S., Moncado, J., & Bush, P. L. (2025). How Can You Help Improve Clinician Well-Being? Insights from Patient Focus Groups [Interactive presentation]. Genially. https://view.genially.com/6716580318e2a1eeb9f7ef59

To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Clinician Supporting Clinician Well-Being

• Strive towards realistic expectations for what you are capable of at work
• Be mindful of the demanding nature of your job

Manager Supporting Clinician Well-Being

• Ensure Accessible and Efficient Technology
• Provide Safe and Functional Workspaces
• Ensure clinicians are adequately prepared for the realities of their healthcare responsibilities
• Reduce bureaucracy to ensure care is as accessible as possible
• Ensure fair Workload and Compensation
• Be mindful of how equity, diversity and inclusion may impact clinicians
• Clinician retention and agency
• Information Accessibility

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• Some quotes were originally in French and have been translated into English; the original French version is provided in a tooltip when applicable.

Patient Supporting Clinician Well-Being

• Be Civil
• Trust your Clinician
• Be Prepared For Your Appointments
• Be Involved in Your Care
• Have a positive & cooperative attitude towards your care