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Melissa Jezior, CEO of Eagle Hill Consulting, says burnout on the decline continues to create challenges in the workplace; Dr. Yngvild Olsen, director of the Center for Substance Use Treatment at SAMHSA, tells us the Naloxone Saturation Policy Academy...
Melissa Jezior, CEO of Eagle Hill Consulting, says burnout on the decline continues to create challenges in the workplace; Dr. Yngvild Olsen, director of the Center for Substance Use Treatment at SAMHSA, tells us the Naloxone Saturation Policy Academy is helping states saturate their communities with life-saving medications to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose; Public Health Infrastructure Grant recipients are working with key partners to improve data systems through the Data Modernization Initiative; and ASTHO has a new template and guide to help agencies write charters to direct their work.
Eagle Hill Webpage: The State of Worker Burnout 2024
ASTHO Blog Article: DMI Advisory Committees Kick Off Across the Pacific
ASTHO Webpage: Charter Template and Guide
ROBERT JOHNSON:
This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, July 19, 2024. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
MELISSA JEZIOR:
Our research found that the primary driver of burnout is workload.
JOHNSON:
Burnout among government workers isn't as bad as it was during the pandemic, down from 65% in 2022, to 41% last month. But Melissa Jezior, CEO of Eagle Hill Consulting, says even with burnout on the decline, it continues to create challenges in the workplace.
JEZIOR:
When workers are burnt out, they're less productive, they're less engaged, and they're less innovative. They're also more likely to leave their jobs, especially when opportunities in the private sector typically offer higher pay. And when turnover is high, this only exacerbates the problem.
JOHNSON:
Jezior says there are steps public health officials can take to help curb the instability burnout brings to their agencies.
JEZIOR:
I think this often means engaging with employees to understand their workloads and stress levels, which then can help them distribute, you know, redistribute tasks, or identify bottlenecks or streamline tasks or hire more people or higher temp workers might maybe even mean realigning organizational priorities.
JOHNSON:
She also recommends agencies continue to look for ways to give workers more flexibility.
JEZIOR:
Since we've been tracking burnout remedies since the early days of the COVID pandemic. Government workers have consistently reported that flexibility is their top way to alleviate their stress.
JOHNSON:
Jezior's team has designed an infographic that illustrates the state of worker burnout in 2024. You can see it using the link in the show notes.
States are learning from the federal government how to develop and implement plans to saturate their communities with life saving medications to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. This is Dr. Yngvild Olsen with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
YNGVILD OLSEN:
The Naloxone Saturation Policy Academy was created to help states with specialized technical systems that was aimed at problem solving those implementation issues related to their saturation plans, and really celebrate their successes.
JOHNSON:
A third academy cohort meeting this month extends the reach of the policy to even more jurisdictions.
OLSEN:
So, states really have demonstrated tremendous innovation and collaboration as part of their saturation efforts. That has included new partnerships across public health, behavioral health, in partnerships with community-based harm reduction programs, collaborations across government agencies at the state level that may not have existed or been a strong before.
JOHNSON:
Olsen says states are taking steps in the right direction.
OLSEN:
Oklahoma has implemented vending machine access to Naloxone, partnering with their department of transportation to really place those vending machines along highways points where the data pointed to overdoses occurring. And Kentucky has launched a naloxone finder website and it's really digging much deeper into their data to identify communities that may be getting missed with naloxone and where those overdose rates are incredibly high.
JOHNSON:
You can contact the Center for Substance Use Treatment or the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention for more information.
Also, today, public health agencies in the Pacific Island areas have created advisory committees to help them modernize their data systems. O'Keyla Cooper has that story.
O'KEYLA COOPER:
Public Health Infrastructure Grant recipients are working with key partners to improve data systems through the Data Modernization Initiative. In 2024. teams in the Republic of Palau, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam started advisory committees. They're using the expertise of their advisors to enhance data assessment, planning, and implementation. You can read the full blog article by clicking the link in the show notes.
JOHNSON:
Finally, this morning, ASTHO has a new template and guide to help agencies write charters to direct their work; you can download the document using the link in the show notes.
Before we go a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.
That'll do it for today. We're back Monday morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great weekend.
