Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Honored by American Medical Association for Ongoing Commitment to Physician Well-Being
For the third time, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
has earned the American Medical Association (AMA) Joy in Medicine™ distinction. The award recognizes documented efforts to reduce system-level drivers of work-related burnout and demonstrated competencies in commitment, assessment, leadership, efficiency of practice environment, teamwork, and support.
This recognition is granted to organizations that attest to the rigorous criteria of the Joy in Medicine™ Health System Recognition Program and demonstrate a commitment to preserving the well-being of clinical care team members through proven efforts to combat work-related stress and burnout.
Burnout in the medical field first received attention by two doctors in 1974 and has engaged the attention of physician researchers during the past several decades. Many hospitals, health systems, and medical schools, including Icahn Mount Sinai, have created the role of Chief Wellness Officer to find ways to both study and remedy burnout in the workforce. In 2021, Mount Sinai researchers reported a dramatic spike in burnout among physicians and health care professionals resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which placed acute stress on care teams and exacerbated long-standing issues within the health care system.
“We are hopeful that the most challenging times of the pandemic have subsided while we remain vigilant in caring for our community in its wake,” says Jonathan Ripp, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, Medical Education, and Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Dean for Well-Being and Resilience, and Chief Wellness Officer at Icahn Mount Sinai. “We are extremely honored to receive this recognition from the AMA at a time when we are redoubling our efforts to alleviate the burden our workforce is experiencing in the aftermath of the pandemic. I am honored and deeply proud of our well-being team, our leaders, well-being champions, and partners who are so invested in the well-being and mental health of our faculty, staff and trainees.”
As Icahn Mount Sinai’s first Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Ripp oversees the Office of Well-Being and Resilience (OWBR), which seeks to promote workforce well-being and address burnout by advancing a culture that enables the workforce and learners to efficiently and effectively do their best work in a community that values them through a robust suite of programs:
- Regular faculty and trainee surveys to determine drivers of burnout and targeted interventions
- A formal Well-being Champion program consisting of more than 80 faculty members representing most departments and training programs; champions work with the OWBR to develop annual plans to address well-being priorities through a framework supported throughout the Mount Sinai Health System
- A steady drumbeat of research: a total of 21 papers published in the last two years facilitated by the support of millions of dollars in federal grant funding
- A pilot grant program administered through the OWBR entitled Reducing EHR, Documentation, and Clerical Effort (REDUcE) to address clerical and EHR burden.
- Well-being and coping training resources for medical and graduate school students, in addition to residents
- A medical student well-being educational program embedded within Icahn Mount Sinai’s redesigned medical school curriculum
- Mental health destigmatization programs to facilitate awareness of and access to behavioral health services
“Health organizations that have earned recognition from the AMA’s Joy in Medicine Health System Recognition Program are leading a national movement that has declared the well-being of health professionals to be an essential element for providing high-quality care to patients, families, and communities,” said AMA President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH. “Each Joy in Medicine recognized organization is distinguished as among the nation’s best at creating a culture of wellness that makes a difference in the lives of clinical care teams.”
Since its inception in 2019, the Joy in Medicine™ Health System Recognition Program has recognized more than 100 organizations across the country. In 2023, a total of 72 health systems nationwide earned recognition with documented efforts to reduce system-level drivers of work-related burnout and demonstrated competencies in commitment, assessment, leadership, efficiency of practice environment, teamwork, and support.
About the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is internationally renowned for its outstanding research, educational, and clinical care programs. It is the sole academic partner for the
eight member hospitals* of the Mount Sinai Health System, one of the largest academic health systems in the United States, providing care to a large and diverse patient population.
Ranked No. 14 nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding and in the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges, Icahn Mount Sinai has a talented, productive, and successful faculty. More than 3,000 full-time scientists, educators, and clinicians work within and across 34 academic departments and 44 multidisciplinary institutes, a structure that facilitates tremendous collaboration and synergy. Our emphasis on translational research and therapeutics is evident in such diverse areas as genomics/big data, virology, neuroscience, cardiology, geriatrics, and gastrointestinal and liver diseases.
Icahn Mount Sinai offers highly competitive MD, PhD, and master’s degree programs, with current enrollment of approximately 1,300 students. It has the largest graduate medical education program in the country, with more than 2,600 clinical residents and fellows training throughout the Health System. In addition, more than 535 postdoctoral research fellows are in training within the Health System.
A culture of innovation and discovery permeates every Icahn Mount Sinai program. Mount Sinai’s technology transfer office, one of the largest in the country, partners with faculty and trainees to pursue optimal commercialization of intellectual property to ensure that Mount Sinai discoveries and innovations translate into health care products and services that benefit the public.
Icahn Mount Sinai’s commitment to breakthrough science and clinical care is enhanced by academic affiliations that supplement and complement the School’s programs. Through Mount Sinai Innovation Partners (MSIP), the Health System facilitates the real-world application and commercialization of medical breakthroughs made at Mount Sinai. Additionally, MSIP develops research partnerships with industry leaders such as Merck & Co., AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, and others.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is located in New York City on the border between the Upper East Side and East Harlem, and classroom teaching takes place on a campus facing Central Park. Icahn Mount Sinai’s location offers many opportunities to interact with and care for diverse communities. Learning extends well beyond the borders of our physical campus, to the eight hospitals of the Mount Sinai Health System, our academic affiliates, and globally.
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* Mount Sinai Health System member hospitals: The Mount Sinai Hospital; Mount Sinai Beth Israel; Mount Sinai Brooklyn; Mount Sinai Morningside; Mount Sinai Queens; Mount Sinai South Nassau; Mount Sinai West; and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 11 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2024-2025.
For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
