Kristen E Nordenholz, MD, MSc, FACEP
Wellness Section Councilor
Wellbeing Committee Chair-Elect
CO ACEP Board Member
Your COACEP has been busy supporting work from national ACEP to support the rights of frontline workers by cosponsoring 2 important resolutions for ACEP Council: 1. Supporting ACEP’s new Well Workplace Policy and 2. Improving reporting of Workplace Violence.
First, In April 2024 the ACEP Board of Directors approved the Well Workplace Policy. In summary this policy, which was developed by ACEP’s Wellbeing Committee and Wellness Section, lists 20 factors/ initiatives which are intended to support front line workers. These are divided broadly into three categories:
- Organizational Influences which include such things as leave policies, adequate mental health resources, intentional policies addressing workplace safety and violence prevention, and leadership strategies to enhance physician engagement, satisfaction, and retention (to name a few).
- Practice Environment Influences which include full staffing of all workers in the department required for patient care, establishing physician-led on-site teams to adequately supervise non-physician providers if utilized, 24/7 best possible employee nutritional options, and reduction of the burden of administrative tasks (to name a few)
- Culture, which includes anonymous, comprehensive, and objective evaluation of wellness outcomes, and departmental leadership by staff to ensure accountability to address, maintain, and improve workplace wellness (to name a few)
CO ACEP has joined the ACEP Wellness Section to co-sponsor one Resolution for ACEP 2024 Council which aims to:
RESOLVE, “that ACEP promote, advertise and support the best practices as defined in the Well Workplace policy Well Workplace; and”
RESOLVE, “that ACEP develops and comprehensively supports a system to track adherence to the Well Workplace policy in an effort to create a wellness certification mechanism or incorporate adherence to this Well Workplace Policy into the ED Accreditation Program.”
Secondly, CO ACEP is cosponsoring another resolution entitled “DATA GATHERING of Workplace Violence” which aims to:
RESOLVE, “that ACEP will both advocate for and support the ability of victims and witnesses to report these events without repercussion and recriminations; and further”
RESOLVE, “that ACEP will create a mechanism for tracking violence reports such that the scope of the problem can be identified.”
It is the hope of CO ACEP and National ACEP that these efforts will continue to highlight the importance of workplace protections and improving working conditions for Emergency Department physicians on the front lines.