Date: 05/03/2024

Author(s): Rosalind de Lisser, Jana Lauderdale, Mary S. Dietrich, Rangaraj Ramanujam, Deonni P. Stolldorf

 

The US health system is burdened by rising costs, workforce shortages, and unremitting burnout. Well-being interventions have emerged in response, yet data suggest that the work environment is the problem. Nurse practitioner (NP) burnout is associated with structural and relational factors in the work environment, practice autonomy, and hierarchical leadership. In this article, Healthforce Center’s Rosalind de Lisser and colleagues explore the unique social, cultural, and political environment in which NPs work through the lens of social ecology and present the Social Ecology of Burnout (SEB) framework. They review current burnout frameworks in the context of the NP practice environment and discuss the SEB, specifically exploring psychological safety and its influence on burnout. Psychological safety, work environment, and policy are presented within the SEB and solutions which empower NPs are considered. The framework can serve as a guide for future nursing research, practice, and policy.