Physician Alliance Well-Being Case Study: UAB

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System is composed of a six-hospital, academic health system and level one trauma center. As the largest employer in Birmingham, Ala., UAB employs over 16,000 employees. In 2016, UAB had 1.2 million outpatient visits and 86,642 inpatient visits. Influenced by the growing national conversation on burnout and also the rising rates of reported job stress from its own employee surveys, UAB decided to tackle physician burnout in an unprecedented way: a coordinated strategy for well-being across the professional spectrum: medical students, physicians-in-training, and senior faculty.

UAB set out to measure the rate of stress and burnout among UAB senior physicians and trainees (i.e., residents, fellows, and interns). UAB then identified and implemented organizational tactics to address drivers of burnout.