Over the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has stretched many health care professionals to their limits. The pizzas, parties and cheers that were common early in pandemic are no longer enough to ease burnout and address staff shortages. During the 2022 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality Conference, Dr. Lee Fleisher, CMS Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality sat down with Angela Duckworth, Founder and CEO of Character Lab and author of the New York Times bestseller, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, to discuss how health care leaders can use grit to rebuild a more resilient workforce.

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion that can lead to feelings of helplessness and disconnection. Conversely, grit, as described by Ms. Duckworth, is a combination of passion, perseverance and drive that inspires leaders to have greater self-awareness, overcome obstacles and create a culture that stays true to their purpose. Grit and burnout tend to be inversely correlated. According to industry studies, health care workers who report being “grittier” tend to have less burnout. But Ms. Duckworth disagrees. She believes that people who are the “grittiest,” those who are “all in” are more susceptible to burnout. “You don’t experience burnout if you are a slacker,” she says.

Dr. Fleisher and Ms. Duckworth noted three ways health care leaders and policymakers can address burnout. The first is by acknowledging that burnout is real. Given the extreme conditions most health care workers have been experiencing, feeling out burned out is understandable. The second way to address burnout is to help staff focus on the small things they can control rather than all the things they cannot control. The third way to address burnout is to focus on small wins. This is one of the most powerful ways health care leaders can communicate hope. In practice, focusing on small wins can be as simple as helping burned-out employees break larger, more complex tasks into more manageable pieces. Celebrating when those smaller tasks are complete help staff build the psychological momentum they need to keep going.

This material was prepared by The Bizzell Group (Bizzell), the Data Validation and Administrative (DVA) contractor, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official views or policy of CMS or HHS, and any reference to a specific product or entity herein does not constitute endorsement of that product or entity by CMS or HHS. 12SOW/Bizzell/DVA-1131-07/18/2023