Northwest Permanente employees participate in a monthly group run in Portland's Forest Park
HEALTHIEST EMPLOYERS OF OREGON
Healthiest Employers of Oregon: Northwest Permanente PC (#1, 1,500-4,999 employees)
Aug 16, 2018
For 70 years, the Hippocratic Oath didn’t address physicians’ health and wellness, let alone burnout.That changed last October when the ethical pledge got a modern update. For the first time, it requires physicians to “attend to my own health, well-being and abilities in order to provide care of the highest standard.”
At physician-owned Northwest Permanente, executive leadership supports the message of healthy living through dedication of resources, time and being present at wellness events. It is a signal that they are invested in the health of the company as well as their own.
Northwest Permanente leaders know that cultivating joy and wellness is more than a physical pursuit. You can have a physically healthy body, but be unwell in other dimensions, so they strive to take a holistic approach.
“Wellness is like a big boulder that you can’t move at once, but must chip away at to get employees on board,” says Justin Pfeifer, Northwest Permanente Wellness Consultant.
One source of encouragement for the company’s 1,700 physicians and nonclinical employees is through completion of a Wellness Passport. Each quarter, the passport targets five of eight domains — physical, spiritual, social, environmental, intellectual, emotional, financial and occupational. Employees complete a specific number of activities to complete their passport and receive monetary or tangible rewards, such as a FitBit, Bose headphones or gift cards.
Participants are urged to step a bit out of their comfort zone. Creative options have been added to the activities list to appeal to diverse interests, such as personal finance quizzes, engaging with someone you haven’t talked to in years, going on a hike, reading a book, listening to a podcast, giving silent gratitude, engaging in professional development or practicing mindful meditation.
Asked how completing their passport made them feel, 97 percent of participants said they felt the company valued wellness, and 87 percent said they were compelled to make behavioral changes. In addition, the Passport program has seen participation by physicians — who typically have high-stress jobs and must adhere to strict schedules at multiple locations — increase more than 40 percent from the first quarter to the fourth quarter in 2017.
To be effective, incorporating wellness shouldn’t be another task on an employee’s must-do checklist. A way around that is to include activities that are fun and family-focused.
“Do stuff after-hours, in your free time, with your spouse, partner, kids or friends so it doesn’t feel like work,” Pfeifer advises.
In the medical field, stress and burnout are constant threats and personal resilience must be nurtured to be able to respond in a healthy way.
Northwest Permanente’s nascent LOTUS (Lifting Our Teammates Utilizing Support) program breaks new ground. The program was put in place for clinicians who experienced adverse outcomes with patients. The primary victims are the patient and their family. The secondary victims include caretakers and clinicians who were involved with the adverse affect, such as a medical mistake, injury or patient death. They may have been involved with the person for weeks or even years and often suffer emotional trauma. Because of their pressing schedules, these employees often are not afforded enough time to grieve before they need to move on to the next patient.
In the LOTUS program, peers are trained to recognize warning signs in these secondary victims and take cases for them, help them get extra downtime or lend support.
A great resource has been the Wellness Guides appointed in each Northwest Permanente department. In February, their name was changed from Wellness Champions, which implied competition. They help boost awareness and participation in wellness activities from the ground level.
The Wellness Program succeeds because “there is no hard sell. You don’t badger people,” Pfeifer says. “You want to pull, rather than push people.”
Healthiest Employers of Oregon: Northwest Permanente PC (#1, 1,500-4,999 employees)
Aug 16, 2018
For 70 years, the Hippocratic Oath didn’t address physicians’ health and wellness, let alone burnout.That changed last October when the ethical pledge got a modern update. For the first time, it requires physicians to “attend to my own health, well-being and abilities in order to provide care of the highest standard.”
At physician-owned Northwest Permanente, executive leadership supports the message of healthy living through dedication of resources, time and being present at wellness events. It is a signal that they are invested in the health of the company as well as their own.
Northwest Permanente leaders know that cultivating joy and wellness is more than a physical pursuit. You can have a physically healthy body, but be unwell in other dimensions, so they strive to take a holistic approach.
“Wellness is like a big boulder that you can’t move at once, but must chip away at to get employees on board,” says Justin Pfeifer, Northwest Permanente Wellness Consultant.
One source of encouragement for the company’s 1,700 physicians and nonclinical employees is through completion of a Wellness Passport. Each quarter, the passport targets five of eight domains — physical, spiritual, social, environmental, intellectual, emotional, financial and occupational. Employees complete a specific number of activities to complete their passport and receive monetary or tangible rewards, such as a FitBit, Bose headphones or gift cards.
Participants are urged to step a bit out of their comfort zone. Creative options have been added to the activities list to appeal to diverse interests, such as personal finance quizzes, engaging with someone you haven’t talked to in years, going on a hike, reading a book, listening to a podcast, giving silent gratitude, engaging in professional development or practicing mindful meditation.
Asked how completing their passport made them feel, 97 percent of participants said they felt the company valued wellness, and 87 percent said they were compelled to make behavioral changes. In addition, the Passport program has seen participation by physicians — who typically have high-stress jobs and must adhere to strict schedules at multiple locations — increase more than 40 percent from the first quarter to the fourth quarter in 2017.
To be effective, incorporating wellness shouldn’t be another task on an employee’s must-do checklist. A way around that is to include activities that are fun and family-focused.
“Do stuff after-hours, in your free time, with your spouse, partner, kids or friends so it doesn’t feel like work,” Pfeifer advises.
In the medical field, stress and burnout are constant threats and personal resilience must be nurtured to be able to respond in a healthy way.
Northwest Permanente’s nascent LOTUS (Lifting Our Teammates Utilizing Support) program breaks new ground. The program was put in place for clinicians who experienced adverse outcomes with patients. The primary victims are the patient and their family. The secondary victims include caretakers and clinicians who were involved with the adverse affect, such as a medical mistake, injury or patient death. They may have been involved with the person for weeks or even years and often suffer emotional trauma. Because of their pressing schedules, these employees often are not afforded enough time to grieve before they need to move on to the next patient.
In the LOTUS program, peers are trained to recognize warning signs in these secondary victims and take cases for them, help them get extra downtime or lend support.
A great resource has been the Wellness Guides appointed in each Northwest Permanente department. In February, their name was changed from Wellness Champions, which implied competition. They help boost awareness and participation in wellness activities from the ground level.
The Wellness Program succeeds because “there is no hard sell. You don’t badger people,” Pfeifer says. “You want to pull, rather than push people.”
