• Julie A Radico, Jessica Parascando, Tamara K Oser, and Timothy D Riley.
• Department of Family and Community Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA.
• Fam Med. 2023 Mar 1; 55 (3): 180184180-184.

Background And ObjectivesBurnout is prevalent among clinicians and faculty. We sought to understand the impact of a recognition program designed to reduce burnout and affect engagement and job satisfaction in a large academic family medicine department.MethodsA recognition program was created in which three clinicians and faculty from the department were randomly selected each month to be recognized ("awardees"). Each awardee was asked to honor a person who had supported them (a "hidden hero" [HH]). Clinicians and faculty not recognized or selected as an HH were considered "bystanders." Interviews were completed with 12 awardees, 12 HHs, and 12 bystanders for a total of 36 interviews. We used content analysis to qualitatively evaluate the program.ResultsAssessment of the "We Are" Recognition Program resulted in the categories of impact (subcategories: process positives, process negatives, and fairness of program) and HHs (subcategories: teamwork and awareness of the program). We conducted interviews on a rolling basis and made iterative changes to the program based on feedback.ConclusionsThis recognition program helped create a sense of value for clinicians and faculty in a large, geographically dispersed department. It represents a model that would be easy to replicate, requires no special training or significant financial investment, and can be implemented in a virtual format.

16 keywords...

hide…