Investments in Care Include Clinician and Workforce Wellness Initiatives

• By:  Emily Beatty
• Posted:  February 13, 2026
•   Share This

Exhaustion among nurses and physicians, especially those based at hospitals, had been a burning issue for decades — and then COVID-19 came along and threw kerosene on the flames.

According to research, burnout among U.S. physicians peaked at 62.8% in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy declared that “our nation’s health” is at risk if we fail to act on the burnout crisis.

Thanks to strides made since then, the national physician burnout rate decreased to 45.2% in 2023. Despite improvements, burnout levels remain higher for physicians than most other U.S. workers, underscoring the importance of continued efforts to ensure that clinical staff receive the support they need to thrive.

National recognition for AHN’s wellness approach and culture

“Health care professionals — nurses and doctors especially, but other caregivers too — have a culture of self-deprivation that dates back a century,” says Dan Shapiro, PhD, senior partner and executive director of Chartis Center for Burnout Solutions, a burnout and wellness consultancy. “And when something is embedded in the culture, it can be very hard to root it out.”

Thomas Campbell, MD, MPH, AHN’s vice president and medical director of Clinical Wellness, brought on Dr. Shapiro, a psychologist, to help Allegheny Health Network and its clinician wellness team to assess and, ultimately, change that culture. Expanding a strong wellness program that was already in place, AHN’s well-being initiatives have received national attention, most recently as a Wellbeing First Champion by ALL IN: Wellbeing First for Healthcare from the Dr. Lorna Breen Foundation and gold recognition from the American Medical Association (AMA) as a Joy in Medicine® organization.

“Most caregivers are selfless individuals. By nature, they have a personality that wants to absorb the work because they don’t want to burden their coworkers,” Dr. Campbell says. “Because of that, it’s vital that we create a culture of wellness where caregivers feel comfortable taking a break, asking for help, and exploring new resources.”

AHN’s annual wellness survey

Years before the first case of COVID-19, Dr. Campbell had started AHN’s clinician wellness efforts. Those efforts took on greater urgency due to the nature of the pandemic and its demoralizing effect on health care workers. While specific needs of the pandemic passed — such as lack of resources and personal protective equipment (PPE), uncertainty, and the range of emotional strains that COVID brought — other impacts on the well-being of frontline health care workers continue and require long-term solutions.

Across the years, AHN’s annual wellness survey has been a key tool helping the Clinician Wellness team to adapt to changing circumstances and understand what can be done to improve morale and reduce burnout. The survey allows the team to tap the pulse of team members across the network — not just clinicians, techs and patient-facing caregivers, but also non-patient-facing team members, such as those in billing or information services. AHN also surveys support staff, such as environmental services workers, nutrition workers and cafeteria staff, security, and transport workers, emphasizing that the well-being of all team members is important.

Results from these wellness surveys have guided continued progress in a number of key focus areas. Let’s look at three of those areas: foundational support, reducing administrative burden, and holistic wellness.

Optimizing foundational support and resources

Dr. Campbell emphasizes the importance of ensuring that staff have easy, consistent access to essential physical needs, such as timely hydration, nutritious meal options, and adequate breaks.

“Being hydrated matters,” he says. “Having time to eat matters. Having enough sleep matters. This seems like common sense, but it’s also foundational to the well-being of our caregivers, and to the quality of care that they provide to AHN’s patients.”

As an example, he cites water refilling stations that now exist across AHN hospitals — a response to learning from the survey that employees didn’t like drinking from water fountains. The water refilling stations give them convenient access to water, and AHN provides educational material about where water bottles can and can’t be carried in a hospital setting. The Joint Commission allows caregivers to eat and drink in most ED workspaces, for example. AHN also invested in snack machines that provide healthy options for nutrition on the go.

Basics like water refilling stations and healthy vending machines don’t get much attention outside the hospital obviously, but Dr. Campbell says that prioritizing these foundational elements is one of the best ways to visibly demonstrate AHN’s appreciation, care, and responsiveness to the valuable feedback provided by its clinical and support staff.

Reducing administrative burden through efficiency and innovation

Clinicians consistently identify administrative burden as a contributor, and sometimes even the primary cause, of stress, job dissatisfaction, and burnout. AHN has been very proactive in this area, seeking to empower clinicians by streamlining administrative workflows, with a particular focus on optimizing in-basket management and charting processes.

Emerging technological innovation has turbocharged those efforts. For example, AHN announced a unique collaboration with Abridge to scale and deploy AI technologies in 2025. The new Abridge AI-powered ambient clinical intelligence platform securely transforms patient-clinician conversations into clinical notes. Automating what has traditionally been a time-consuming manual effort, the platform frees clinicians to focus more fully on delivering face-to-face patient care — rather than needing to type notes into a computer. In its own tests of ambient scribe technologies, AHN reported that 92% of its patients felt their providers were more attentive during their visits when ambient scribe technology was being used.

The benefits of the new platform extend far beyond the office, helping to reduce the after-work hours — known in the industry as “pajama time” — that doctors commonly spend editing their notes, reviewing EHRs and documenting after-care summaries. AHN clinicians who piloted the technologies reported dramatic improvements in documentation and workflow efficiency.

Prioritizing holistic mental and physical wellness

AHN’s dedication to promoting comprehensive well-being for health care workers includes expanding access to mental health resources, encouraging proactive primary care utilization, and deeply understanding and addressing the root causes of stress and emotional strain.

For example, for hospital-based medical residents — who work long hours and often don’t get enough sleep — AHN created a sleep education video and had a sleep psychologist on hand who could speak to the connection between adequate sleep, the residents’ wellness, and patient outcomes. AHN residency programs also looked at and adjusted scheduled duty hours for medical residents with the goal of allowing them to catch up on needed rest more easily.

Another priority is health and wellness-related education, including throughout the onboarding process for residents, new nurses, and other new hires. “Preventing burnout is easier than repairing it after the fact,” Dr. Campbell points out.

As part of ongoing collaborative efforts to look after one another, AHN also rolled out a Mental Health First Aid program for leaders to learn how to monitor and evaluate those who may need additional support.

Workplace wellness requires a continuous improvement mindset

COVID-19 underscored the need for enhanced measures to track and address clinician fulfillment and burnout, including better access to behavioral health and quality-of-life resources, and incorporating feedback from team members to cultivate healthier work environments. But this has been, and remains, ongoing work driven by a continuous improvement mindset at AHN.

“Allegheny Health Network recognized the importance of clinician wellness and workplace wellness initiatives well before COVID-19,” Dr. Shapiro pointed out in 2022. “That’s a badge of honor for the system. They have been investing in it for years, and the results have been astonishing, given the current environment.”

But Dr. Campbell says that AHN’s clinician wellness team will never confuse progress with the finish line. The team understands that there are still AHN team members, in patient-facing positions and behind the scenes, who experience burnout symptoms, and that there are always new improvement opportunities to explore.

For example, knowing that women tend to suffer from higher rates of burnout than men, a Women Physicians Employee Resource Group was formed, led by Prerna Mewawalla, MD. In 2025, the group hosted its third annual AHN Women Physician’s Wellness Conference, sponsored by AHN Allegheny General Hospital and the Allegheny County Medical Society. Open to all physicians in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, the conference aims to bridge gaps faced by women in medicine by fostering empowerment, advocacy, and ensuring women physicians have the tools, community and organizational support needed to thrive.

Other improvements include enhancing and expanding employee benefits. For example, in 2026 AHN transitioned its Employee Assistance Program to Spring Health, enhancing confidential and no-cost care for employees and their families, including a 24/7 crisis line for virtual support, with the option to request an on-site counselor to help teams when facing a crisis.

Another new benefit for AHN team members covered by a Highmark health plan: membership in Noom: Weight Management. The solution’s behavioral change and habit formation technique, personalized coaching, and cutting-edge technology help members prioritize their physical wellness.

While AHN has had some high-level leadership changes — including the arrival of new president Mark Sevco in 2025 — Dr. Campbell says that from the time he first launched clinician wellness to now, organizational commitment to the work has been a constant. He notes that to ensure that wellness is a shared effort, rather than a project that sits in his silo, AHN’s clinician wellness scores are baked into leadership’s organizational goals.

Feeling seen and celebrated

Very few organizations can link an Emmy-award winning TV series to their clinical wellness initiatives.

In 2025, HBO Max launched the Pittsburgh-based medical drama, “The Pitt,” using AHN’s Allegheny General Hospital as the real-life inspiration and backdrop for the program. The show struck a chord with health care workers based on its realistic portrayal of the challenges faced and heroic work performed by caregivers in the emergency department setting.

With several Emmy awards under its belt, the second season returned in early 2026. HBO Max wanted to ensure that the frontline workers at Allegheny General knew how much they were valued and appreciated, so it hosted a special “Wellness & Celebration Experience.” The pop-up event was held in conjunction with the Season 2 premiere, offering a unique opportunity for real-life health care heroes to decompress, feel celebrated and enjoy an exclusive screening.

“They wanted to do something to thank the employees for everything they do,” Dr. Campbell explained in an interview with regional media. “We really are grateful that HBO Max is showing appreciation back for all of the hard work that health care providers are providing — as well as the show itself showing some of the struggles as well as the gratitude.”