Physicians & Healthcare Leaders Gathered in February to Tackle Wellness and Burnout
Despite the inclement weather, a large contingent of physicians, nurses, and healthcare leaders from across the county, state and country attended the Healthcare Burnout Symposium in late February. Held at the UCLA Luskin Conference Center, Los Angeles, the event provided valuable content addressing clinician and healthcare professional burnout as a public health emergency that requires immediate action.
This mental health crisis has been fueled by the pandemic and has resulted in elevated anxiety, depression, isolation, PTSD, and burnout for physicians, nurses, and many healthcare workers. It goes without saying that the patient is also affected, given the quality of care implications.
For this reason, LACMA served as the title sponsor for the event as healthcare leaders gathered to inspire a shift in focus from advocating for change within healthcare systems to driving specific actions, innovations, and strategies to end clinician burnout. Because physician well-being is so vital, it was important that LACMA supported this effort.
Most of the work of the pre-conference workshops were sold out and filled to capacity. These workshops touched on various topics including ways to recruit and retain staff, develop a culture of organizational well-being, leveraging AI to retain the doctor-patient relationship, and many other solutions to help administrators and physicians take on burnout.
The evening prior to the start of the symposium, LACMA and HealthBook+ hosted a wellness dinner with Chief Wellness Officers from various medical groups and health systems across LA County. Special recognition was given to City of Hope as the first recipient of the Wellness Can’t Award for their outstanding commitment to excellence in healthcare professional well-being.
Over the course of the 1.5-day conference, participants learned key takeaways around wellness from 41 distinguished speakers from across the country, including an opening keynote by Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and closing remarks from California Surgeon General Dr. Diana Ramos. One of the panels, preceded by a message from Golden State Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr, included a unique physician-led discussion on gun violence prevention featuring national experts Dr. Babak Sarani, Dr. Joe Sakran, and LACMA president, Dr. Omer Deen. Leadership and engagement expert and former world surfing champion, Shaun Tomson, delivered key learnings on how changing one's mindset and perspectives could lead to a significant improvement in organizational performance. Patient Lee Tomlinson, an award-winning television producer, who recently battled stage 3 throat cancer, received a standing ovation for his emotional and inspirational talk on compassionate care.
Huge kudos go to event co-chairs, Dr. Jeffery Lee and Dr. Hector Flores, for their leadership throughout the planning and execution of this conference. If you were unable to attend the event, please CLICK HERE to access the on-demand Healthcare Burnout Symposium sessions as well as the entire network of on-demand content. CME credits are available for select sessions. LACMA members may reach out to Stephanie Mares for the coupon code that will take $200 off the full price of the 6-month subscription.
Don't forget to also check out the two new special Clear as Mud podcast interviews recorded at the symposium. CLICK HERE to access these episodes!