The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has long supported the well-being of surgeons and understanding what drives burnout, depression, suicidal ideation, and moral distress. These issues—among other forms of workplace suffering—profoundly affect surgeons and their patients.
An ACS survey of 8,000 surgeons conducted in 2008 revealed that 40% of ACS member respondents fit the traditional criteria for burnout.1 In 2010, a second survey was conducted, which confirmed these results2 and helped us understand key drivers of burnout and surgeon coping strategies. The overall conclusion was that surgeons must be treated as whole people and not just as people doing a job. These data began the conversation that surgeon well-being, burnout, and depression are not signs of personal failure but are the result of workplace systems and culture.2
Survey Goals
The ACS Surgeon Well-Being Program’s 2024 Surgeon Well-Being Survey will allow the ACS to pursue these important long-term goals:
- Increase understanding of what currently comprises a “1.0 FTE” in surgery.
- Determine what should comprise a 1.0 FTE in surgery based on well-being indices.
- Identify workplace processes that enhance or inhibit surgeon well-being.
- Document the national prevalence of unpaid work, unrealistic workloads, inappropriate responsibilities, and incongruent surgeon v. workplace values,
- Use this data to drive evidence-based advocacy for surgeon workplace wellbeing.
Ultimately, we will create national minimum ‘well-being standards’ for the workplace and link these to downstream quality and safety outcomes. Institutional adherence to these standards will be enforced by making surgeon well-being a mandatory metric for obtaining certification, accreditation, and/or approval from the American College of Surgeons, governmental bodies, and/or the public.
Institutional identifiers will be used to explore the impact of institutional financial structure, governance composition, and type of ownership on surgeon well-being.
ACS Surgeon Well-Being Program
The ACS is committed to creating and supporting a robust effort to develop and sustain whole, flourishing surgeons and communities. The ACS Surgeon Well-Being Program launched in early 2020 with the vision of improving well-being, resilience, and work-life integration for surgeons at every career stage. The program’s efforts are centered around the ACS pillars of education, resources/tools, and advocacy with key short- and long-term strategic priorities to foster and advocate for surgeon well-being at individual and systemic levels. Since its inception, this group has created educational programs through yearly awareness campaigns, webinars and videos with well-being content, ACS publications focused on well-being, and educational sessions at ACS Clinical Congress and the Leadership and Advocacy Summit. They have also developed an online resource repository with tools to address well-being at the facs.org website.
