Minimizing Medical Burnout: Allison Walsh Of Advanced Recovery Systems On How Hospitals and Medical Practices Are Helping To Reduce Physician and Healthcare Worker Burnout
An Interview With Dan Rodrigues
Create easy access to resources — We see and hear all the time that employers are making resources available, but people aren’t using them. When we ask where the information is, it’s usually not easy to find and there hasn’t been enough intentional effort put behind it to encourage employee engagement.
The pandemic was hard on all of us. But statistics have shown that the pressures of the pandemic may have hit physicians and healthcare workers the hardest. While employment is starting to return to pre-pandemic levels generally, the healthcare sector is lagging behind with a significant percentage of healthcare workers not returning to work. This is one of the factors that is causing a shortage of doctors. Some experts say that the US may soon be short almost 124,000 physicians. (See here for example)
What are hospitals and medical practices doing to help ease the extreme mental strain of doctors and healthcare workers? What are hospitals and medical practices doing to help solve the scourge of physician and healthcare worker burnout?
To address these questions, we are talking to hospital administrators, medical clinic executives, medical school experts, and experienced physicians who can share stories and insights from their experience about “How Hospitals and Medical Practices Are Helping To Reduce Physician and Healthcare Worker Burnout”. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Allison Walsh.
As the Vice President of Business Development for Advanced Recovery Systems, a national behavioral healthcare company, Allison nurtures key relationships for the organization, oversees brand development, and creates and implements educational outreach and prevention programs. Allison identifies opportunities for Advanced Recovery Systems to share their vision for a better behavioral healthcare landscape through a myriad of partnerships, speaking engagements and innovative campaigns. A former Miss Florida, Allison has been featured in national media outlets and publications including Forbers, Entrepreneur, Fortune, FOX News, Huff Post Live, and programs by Lifetime, PBS and NBC.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! I know that you are a very busy person. Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
I grew up as an only child in a family of mostly only children, which meant we were a very small family. I adored my grandmothers and appreciated how hard my parents worked to create opportunities for me to pursue my goals and passions. I was a competitive baton twirler and loved being able to travel, perform and compete all over the world. During high school, I struggled severely with anorexia and bulimia, but thankfully got the help I needed. I made a commitment to help others struggling with these issues and raise awareness in hopes of preventing others from traveling down that same path. I started a nonprofit when I was in college, Helping Other People Eat, and ran the organization for 18 years until it merged with the National Alliance for Eating Disorders. In 2006, I won Miss Florida and competed at Miss America. My experiences in the behavioral health world, coupled with the ability to share my story frequently during and after my year of service, opened doors that I still walk through today. I started working in the treatment industry in 2012 while I finished my juris doctorate and have been honored to be a part of Advanced Recovery Systems since its inception in 2013. I get to help save lives every day and for that, I am incredibly grateful.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.
I was extremely inspired by the former CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, Lynn Grefe. She was my mentor and took me under her wing in my early 20s. She saw my passion for behavioral health and my love for building businesses and brands. She provided amazing opportunities for me to not only have a seat at the table, but to be able to create “new tables” as well. I will be forever grateful for her and the impact she made on my life.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
When the pandemic hit, the leaders of Advanced Recovery Systems wanted to make available the incredibly useful tools and experts that we have in our facilities in a greater capacity. The pandemic drastically impacted mental health and wellness globally and we were extremely committed to reducing barriers for individuals to gain access to valuable resources, assessments and therapy in a quick and efficient platform. We built nobu.ai from scratch and made it available for free to the population at-large. We’ve since created integrations and advanced features for employers to make accessible to their employees to help support their needs. Nobu is constantly evolving and as we see specific needs or populations that can benefit from customized features and content, we create it. It’s been so much fun to be a part of the development and I look forward to Nobu continuing to be added as a tool in people’s mental health toolboxes for years to come.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Drive — My internal drive is something I will forever be grateful for. With “competition” and “futuristic” being in my top five Gallup Strengths, it doesn’t take a lot to get me revved up and ready to go when I can see the vision and potential outcome. I am not afraid to put in the work and am known for my intrinsic motivation and my ability to help others tap into theirs too to get the results they’re looking for as well.
Discipline — While I wish motivation and drive were all that were needed to be successful, a core component of the recipe for success is discipline. I always say that “discipline is what shows up when motivation wants to take a nap,” so having success and high performance habits in place to ensure that your goals are met is critical. For example, I have big personal goals and dreams I’m chasing that require time and effort outside of my existing commitments. I create the time and space to work on those early in my day.
Dedication — I pour my heart and soul into whatever I am working on. I don’t believe in anything less than giving 110% and I know that my success has been largely built by the mentality of being 1% better today than yesterday. I make sure that I evaluate opportunities and projects thoroughly and connect a “why” to it so that I can feel passionate about and invested in whatever I am working on. One of the best examples of dedication has been my career at ARS. Literally from dirt and dream, to building an all-star team, I had to stay dedicated on the good days and the bad. It wasn’t easy, but my connection to the cause and the people we serve motivates me each day to go the extra mile.
Ok, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview about minimizing medical burnout. Let’s begin with a basic definition of terms so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define “Physician and Healthcare Worker Burnout”? Does it just mean poor job satisfaction? Can you explain?
There are three parts to burnout: Overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.
Being burned out is living in a constant state of overwhelming exhaustion. This is significantly more extreme than day to day tiredness or feeling ill. It’s akin to depression in that you cannot muster the strength to do almost anything.
The anhedonia prevents you from enjoying things you used to and can stimulate an almost hatred and disdain for work that used to bring you joy.
You may suffer from constant brain fog, irritability, and depressive symptoms. You may sleep well the night before, but never feel rested. Just knowing that you must go back to work ruins most of your free time.
You tend to discount the positive, and only focus on the parts of the job you dislike. Every task, assignment, and job duty feel like an enormous mountain to climb. You may notice that you can’t find anything to look forward to and feel hopeless about your future.
It’s also important to note that burnout may look and feel different from person to person and even in the same person. You may have experienced burnout in one way previously, but then experience slightly different symptoms or feelings during a different episode.
How would you define or describe the opposite of burnout?
The opposite of burnout would be complete joy, satisfaction and love for the job or work you do. Rather than feeling exhausted before you even got started, you’d still be lit up at the end of the day.
From your experience, perspective, or research, what are the main causes of Physician and Healthcare Worker Burnout?
Physician and Healthcare worker burnout has always existed, but to say it’s been on “overdrive” because of the pandemic is an understatement. The extreme pressure and stress caused not only by the pandemic itself, but also due to staffing shortages, has pushed healthcare professionals to the edge. There has been a mass exodus from the profession and more needs to be done to take care of those taking care of others.
Have you seen burnout impact your own organization? Can you give a first-hand description of how burnout can impact the operations of an organization?
I experienced burnout firsthand in 2021 and thankfully got the support I needed to get back on track so I could continue doing the work I love with the people I adore. ARS was very understanding of how the additional stress of leading a team through a pandemic impacted me and went as far as redefining my role to help me. I realize that that might not be possible in every organization, but I encourage employers to go the extra mile when it comes to taking care of their people. Not only is it the right thing to do, but you will end up saving money in the long run by focusing on retention and wellness rather than replacement and illness. Your people are your most valuable investment and there are great resources, policies and tools that can be leveraged and implemented to aid in those efforts.
Does your practice currently offer any mental health resources for providers or clinical staff? We’d love to hear about it.
Absolutely! In addition to having a residential program for frontline healthcare workers and first responders at The Recovery Village Columbus, we also have specific guided journeys and tools available within our app Nobu for them as well. We have taken care of thousands of first responders in our treatment centers over the last 9 years and we understand the unique needs, stressors, and triggers that they experience. It’s an honor to be able to be of service to this professional community and we hope to expand our reach even further in the years to come.
In my work I have found that streamlining operational efficiency with digital transformation and automated processes helps to ease the workload of providers and clinical staff. Has that been your experience as well? Do you think that streamlining operational efficiency can be one of the tools to minimize medical burnout? We’d love to hear your perspective.
I agree 1000% if the digital tools and resources do what they promise to do and can be effectively rolled out to those using them. I have seen a lot of well-intentioned platforms launch only to be more cumbersome and frustrating to the staff that has to use them than what was anticipated. If organizations are considering new tools to make their jobs more efficient, make sure you have the right stakeholders at the table from the get-go that can offer feedback and demo software before signing on the dotted line. I love technology but fully appreciate the importance of adaption and adoption to make it an effective efficiency play.
Fantastic. Here is the main question of our discussion. Can you share 5 things that hospitals and medical practices can do to reduce physician and healthcare worker burnout?
Create easy access to resources — We see and hear all the time that employers are making resources available, but people aren’t using them. When we ask where the information is, it’s usually not easy to find and there hasn’t been enough intentional effort put behind it to encourage employee engagement.
Educate and destigmatize asking for help — While we’ve made incredible progress when it comes to the topic of mental health, wellness and burnout, there’s still a stigma that exists. The more we can do to normalize the conversation, share stories, and make it easier for people to take care of themselves, the better.
Encourage taking wellness days — Of course most employers offer sick days but encouraging utilization of PTO or wellness days will go a long way. Remember, if they’re not making time for wellness, they’ll be making time for illness, so shifting the narrative can make a big difference.
Invest in your people — If you’re noticing retention issues, increased sick days or general unhappiness, take those as red flags, and do something different. The best investment you can make is in your people, as it has a rippling and cascading effect on your business and customers. We invested in additional training and coaching for our team, and it made a huge impact. Think about what you could do for your people, and make it work for your budget. It might be a temporary sacrifice financially, but it will reap long term benefits.
Ask for feedback and monitor utilization — It’s one thing to offer tools, resources, and help, but if people aren’t using them or don’t like them, you need to know. Create an easy way for them to provide feedback so you can make informed decisions. Apps like Nobu.ai offer aggregated dashboards to see higher level details and overall utilization. If your tools aren’t being used, you won’t see improvement, and you might need to go back to the drawing board.
What can concerned friends, colleagues, and life partners do to help someone they care about reverse burnout?
Check in with their friend, colleague or partner, early and often. The issue with burnout that I have seen is that it can oftentimes be a slow, downward spiral and the signs and symptoms may start off subtly, rather than be fully noticeable. Encourage them to get help and support, either by using tools like Nobu, going to therapy, or finding a support group. It’s also important to evaluate what changed and see if intentionally adding joy and activities that make them happy back into their routine helps with their healing process. One thing I did to help heal from burnout was to invest in learning more about the science of positive psychology and how I could be more intentional about creating joy and happiness in my own life. It made me realize how much I had slowly stopped doing on my downward spiral to burnout and now I ensure I am taking care of myself daily to show up and be my best every day.
What are a few of the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they try to reverse burnout in themselves or others? What can they do to avoid those mistakes?
Common mistakes are thinking it will resolve itself overnight. It likely took time to get to this point, so it will take time to heal and recover too. I also see people get impatient and frustrated when they’re not feeling great after trying to feel better. We are all human and every day will not be amazing. Give yourself grace and step back and evaluate what else you can do for you. The biggest mistake I see is trying to fix it all by themselves. Surround yourself with support, professionals and resources designed to make improvements. Monitor your symptoms and do the work that is evidence-based and clinically supported to get back on track.
It has been said that our mistakes are our greatest teachers. Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
Early on in our Nobu days, when we were first setting up demos and getting our feet wet pitching employers, our boss completely ran point on orchestrating a “fake demo” without any of us knowing. Myself, another VP and Dr. Phillips were in the meeting, trying to be super professional and buttoned up. The fake account we were meeting with kept giving us bogus, off-the-wall answers that required major poker-faces on our end (unsuccessful I might add). We kept going until he ultimately stopped the prank and came clean on his scheme. The entire experience is captured on video and has become a regular “remember when” story that he shares. While it was a funny situation, the takeaway is know who is a good fit and trust your instinct from the beginning. We should have stopped the call way before he did.
Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?
“The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be.” — Oprah Winfrey
It resonates because it reminds me that life is about the journey and evolution, not the destination. Success isn’t a stopping point, rather it’s the next stepping stone as we continue to level up and chase bigger dreams. I love it because it takes the pressure off being everything you want to be right now and focuses on gradual growth and progress. It’s been in my email signature line for years and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Ok, we are nearly done. Because of your role, you are a person of significant influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I sincerely hope that more people take advantage of the core lessons that can be learned from positive psychology. Pos psych is the science of wellbeing, happiness and success, and the pillars can be guideposts for living your healthiest, happiest, and most fulfilling life. My goal is to not only inspire people to go after what they want, but to infuse the core principles into their lives so that they can maximize the experience along the way. It truly changed my life and I love any opportunity to show others how it can help them as well. We incorporated the fundamentals in a training program at ARS for our team members to help them level up in business and life, while also preventing burnout along the way. It’s been a game changer and I am excited to share it with anyone who will listen. I am in the process of writing a book that will come out in 2023 and the science of positive psychology is infused in each chapter. Stay tuned!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I’d love to stay connected! Nobu.ai is available for free of the App Store and Google Play, or you can use it on desktop as well. In addition to the treatment resources Advanced Recovery Systems offers (www.advancedrecoverysystems.com) , you can also attend our free webinars and training by enrolling in ARS University, or tune into Dear Mind, You Matter on your favorite podcasting platform. Personally, I am very active on Instagram @allisonwalsh and host the She Believed She Could podcast. Please reach out and connect if there is anything I can do to help!
This was truly meaningful! Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise!
About The Interviewer: Dan Rodrigues is the founder and CEO of Kareo, a Tebra company, a leading provider of cloud-based clinical and practice management software solutions for independent healthcare practices and billing companies. Rodrigues is known for his visionary leadership in the healthcare technology industry. Rodrigues’ future-forward expertise has led companies such as Scour and Skematix. He is highly committed to providing patients with a seamless, digital experience in healthcare. Rodrigues’ business insights have been featured in publications including Forbes, Fierce Healthcare, and AP News.
