Well-being Program

Mission and Vision

Are You a Patient?

new stanford model The Faculty & Staff Well-being Program casts a clear vision that well-being is an organizational responsibility in addition to an individual one. Rather than ask any one individual member of our community to shoulder their stress alone, we hope to lift our entire institution by tackling cultural and structural barriers to well-being and making work life better for all of us in meaningful, concrete ways.

The Keck School has adopted the Stanford Model of Occupational Well-Being as a guiding philosophy. This model consists of three domains. Please click below to read further about each domain.

  • This domain includes a broad set of variables that are expressed directly through individuals, including personal resources, behaviors, and attitudes that contribute to well-being, including culturally influenced individual responses to workplace demands and stressors.

    Key determinants of success include:

    • Self-valuation (prioritization of self-care and growth mindset) and systems that support it
    • Crisis intervention systems and safety net resources for acute stressors
    • Reduced stigma for mental health service utilization and promotion of accessible emotional support resources
    • Peer support programs with protected participation time
    • Worksite evidence-based health promotion
    • Financial management counseling
    • Life-needs support mechanisms (e.g. child and elder care, after-hours meals, etc.)
    • Interventions that help individuals foster healthy personal relationships outside of work along with system approaches to mitigate the negative impact of work on personal relationships

  • This domain encompasses organizational values, leadership behaviors, and workplace norms that promote personal and professional growth, community, agency, and compassion for patients, colleagues, and self.

    Key determinants of success include:

    • Supportive leadership behaviors, including a commitment to and accountability for well-being (e.g., role modeling well-being, advocating for physician and scientist needs)
    • Teamwork climate fostering psychological safety and mutual respect
    • Individual and Organizational Values Alignment
    • Recognition and appreciation in systems (e.g., regular gratitude practice in huddles, spaces where individuals can acknowledge their colleagues)
    • Transparency, fairness, and prioritizing a just culture, equity, inclusion, and belonging (e.g., protection against mistreatment)

  • This domain depends on workplace systems, processes, and practices that promote safety, quality, effectiveness, work-life integration, and positive patient and colleague interactions, while minimizing wasted time and effort.

    Key determinants of success include:

    • Identification and redesign of inefficient workplace systems
    • Physician and scientist involvement in clinical and research workflow redesign and process improvement efforts
    • Workspace design facilitating effective communication and task shifting
    • Efficient communication protocols
    • Role design aligned with top-of-license practice
    • Team-based models of care delivery
    • Streamlining documentation process and minimizing EHR inbox burden
    • Realistic staffing and predictable scheduling with coverage for planned absences

Strategic Plan

The Well-being Program has crafted a strategic plan to help guide the Keck School on a path to further prioritize and improve the well-being of all constituents. Broadly, our goals are to:

  • Cast a clear vision for faculty & staff well-being
  • Establish coalitions of well-being collaborators to enact local-level work
  • Establish well-being metrics to monitor progress
  • Develop well-being guidance, resources, and programming
  • Support meaningful interventions to address well-being challenge areas

View our strategic goals and measures of success in more detail here.

LISTEN-SORT-EMPOWER

The Well-being program helps units utilize the practice of LISTEN-SORT-EMPOWER, a simple, effective team-based approach to eradicating the root causes of professional burnout. LISTEN-SORT-EMPOWER is a broadly applicable model adapted from the Listen-Act-Develop approach for physician engagement, used for decades by Mayo Clinic. The LISTEN-SORT-EMPOWER model begins with the assumption that systems and behaviors—not people—are the source of many work- and school-place problems. Using this collaborative problem-solving technique results in a friendlier work environment and a cohesive team that is able to meet the daily challenges that arise.

a chart showing list, sort and empower as ongoing cycle through them

Learn more about Listen-Sort-Empower

We recognize that interventions
are not one-size-fits-all.

We work diligently with all stakeholders to tailor solutions to specific populations. The Well-being Program works with individuals and groups across the school to help advance its mission. View a full list of our partners here.

We assume responsibility for regularly assessing the well-being status of our groups and sharing this information with the community and local leaders in a timely and transparent manner. We serve as a liaison to the Dean’s office and advocate for well-being to be considered in all major institution-wide decisions. We also work to build the infrastructure, relationships, and enthusiasm necessary to enact widespread change across our culture and systems.