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Staff well-being in hospitals

Jonathan A. Ripp, MD

Staff well-being in hospitalsStrengthen workforce resilience. Improve performance. Retain talent.

_{Insights Series - issue 57}

Article authors: Jonathan A. Ripp, MD, Neil M. Rofsky, MD, F. Scott Nowakowski, MD, Julia Rosa, André Steinbuss | Reading time: 7 minutes

Best-practice: How Mount Sinai Health System translates strategy into practice

Discover how a system-wide well-being strategy can help healthcare organizations reduce operational friction, give staff more time for meaningful work, and support sustainable, high-quality care.

Why workforce well-being matters now

Approximately 50% of U.S. physicians report symptoms of burnout¹

Up to 40% of academic physicians in high-intensity specialties report an intention to leave²

Workforce shortages, rising burnout, and increasing operational complexity make it harder to protect care quality and organizational stability. In the U.S., close to half of physicians report symptoms of burnout¹, while studies among academic physicians point to significant retention challenges in high-intensity specialties such as radiology².

How to turn well-being into an organizational capability

The Mount Sinai Health System shows how clear governance, shared ownership, measurement, and local action can translate strategy into practical improvements at scale.

“A healthcare workforce that has well-being prioritized and elevated will be one that arrives at work with the tools and support needed to perform at the top of their license, within a community and culture where they feel valued, respected, and appreciated.”

Jonathan A. Ripp, MD

Jonathan A. Ripp, MD

Dean for Well-Being and Chief Wellness Officer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

The Mount Sinai approach
Mount Sinai treats workforce well-being as a strategic capability, not a standalone initiative. In a large and complex health system, well-being is essential to operational performance, workforce sustainability, talent retention, resilience, and quality of care. Employee well-being is shaped not only by individual support, but by how work itself is designed, led, and continuously improved.

Mount Sinai’s framework addresses four connected domains:

Mental health support

Turning strategy into action
Successful implementation combines system-wide direction with strong local ownership. Mount Sinai created a dedicated Well-Being and Work Experience Core, led by a Chief Wellness Officer. The central team provides governance, measurement, expertise, and implementation support to turn a strategic priority into coordinated actions across the organization. This is reinforced by a Well-Being Champion network that connects organizational strategy with frontline experience, and by a continuous improvement cycle that helps teams pilot, evaluate, and refine local interventions over time.

Champion network

Well-being Champions embedded across departments identify local sources of distress and operational friction, gather workforce feedback, and work with leaders to test targeted solutions. The model combines central governance with frontline insight rather than imposing change only from the top down.

Continuous improvement cycle

Organization-wide and department-level surveys reveal where action is most urgent. Interventions follow a disciplined cycle: pilot, measure, adapt, and scale what works or stop what does not. This keeps well-being initiatives practical, evidence-based, and focused on measurable improvement.

Enable radiologists to focus on high-value work

The radiology department provides an illustrative example of how Mount Sinai translates organizational strategy into local operational action.

Neil M. Rofsky, MD, Professor and System Chair of the Department of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology and Senior Associate Dean of Well-Being and Coaching at Mount Sinai Health System, shares ways to address the growing demands on radiologists.

Reduce interruptions and administrative burden
Frequent interruptions and clerical tasks can limit radiologists’ focus, efficiency, and well-being. Mount Sinai introduced Reading Room Coordinators as a central point of contact for incoming requests, communication triage, and certain non-interpretive duties.

Create more time for diagnosis, teaching and research
By redirecting coordination work, the pilot helped radiologists spend more time on the activities where their expertise creates the greatest value.

Deliver measurable impact
Nearly 50% reduction in the proportion of radiologists who said clerical tasks frequently created a barrier to their well-being.³

"Listening to your staff means not only faculty and nurses, but also technologists and housekeeping. It's everyone across the board. You have to incorporate all of their thoughts into what’s going on."

Neil M. Rofsky, MD

Neil M. Rofsky, MD

Professor and System Chair of the Department of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology and Senior Associate Dean of Well-Being and Coaching at Mount Sinai Health System

What healthcare leaders can gain

Use Mount Sinai’s experience to move from isolated initiatives to a measurable, scalable approach that can:

Strengthen retention by addressing everyday sources of strain
Improve performance by reducing avoidable workflow friction
Build resilience through clear ownership and leadership support
Protect care quality by enabling staff to focus on meaningful clinical work

Six practical ways to get started

1. Treat workforce well-being as a strategic priority

Like other enterprise priorities, workforce wellbeing requires clear ownership, governance structures, dedicated expertise, and sufficient capacity to support implementation over time.

2. Focus on measurable operational drivers

Rather than trying to solve every challenge at once, departments should concentrate on clearly defined issues that can be measured and addressed. In Radiology, for example, these included interruptions, administrative burden, and workflow inefficiencies. Addressing these friction points improved not only workforce experience but also productivity, teaching, and clinical efficiency.

2. Focus on measurable operational drivers

Rather than trying to solve every challenge at once, departments should concentrate on clearly defined issues that can be measured and addressed. In Radiology, for example, these included interruptions, administrative burden, and workflow inefficiencies. Addressing these friction points improved not only workforce experience but also productivity, teaching, and clinical efficiency.

This thought leadership publication is part of the Siemens Healthineers Insights Series. It provides ideas and practical solutions on "Healthcare workforce". For more Insights, please visit siemens-healthineers.com/insights-series.

About the authors

Portrait of Jonathan A. Ripp

Jonathan A. Ripp

Dean for Well-Being, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Jonathan Ripp, MD, is Dean for Well-Being and Chief Wellness Officer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he leads system- wide initiatives to advance the well-being of all members of the Mount Sinai community. An internationally recognized expert in clinician well-being, burnout prevention, and workforce resilience, he is co-founder and inaugural president of CHARM, a national consortium dedicated to advancing healthcare professional well-being. His research focuses on physician burnout and evidence-based interventions that promote resilience, professional fulfillment, and sustainable healthcare workplaces.

Portrait of Neil M. Rofsky, MD

Neil M. Rofsky, MD

System Chair of the Department of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology, Mount Sinai Health System

Neil M. Rofsky, MD, is Professor and System Chair of the Department of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology at Mount Sinai Health System. He is an internationally renowned leader in academic radiology and an expert in MRI, with a track record of translating innovation into new standards of clinical care. Dr. Rofsky has incorporated coaching concepts into a transformational leadership style that he teaches on local, regional, and national levels to improve communication and collaboration. He also serves as Senior Associate Dean of Well-Being and Coaching, advancing well-being across the Mount Sinai Health System.

F. Scott Nowakowski, MD

F. Scott Nowakowski, MD

Director of Quality Interventional Radiology, Mount Sinai Health System

Francis Scott Nowakowski, MD, is Director of Quality for Interventional Radiology at Mount Sinai Hospital, System Vice Chairman for Wellness for the Department of Radiology, and a nationally recognized interventional radiologist. He is a founding member of the iCARE Team, a peer-support program for healthcare professionals following challenging clinical events, and serves as the Well-Being Champion for Radiology. Through his role, he helps identify workforce challenges, develop local well- being initiatives, and foster a culture of support and continuous improvement. .

Portrait of Jonathan A. Ripp

Jonathan A. Ripp

Dean for Well-Being, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Jonathan Ripp, MD, is Dean for Well-Being and Chief Wellness Officer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he leads system- wide initiatives to advance the well-being of all members of the Mount Sinai community. An internationally recognized expert in clinician well-being, burnout prevention, and workforce resilience, he is co-founder and inaugural president of CHARM, a national consortium dedicated to advancing healthcare professional well-being. His research focuses on physician burnout and evidence-based interventions that promote resilience, professional fulfillment, and sustainable healthcare workplaces.

Portrait of Neil M. Rofsky, MD

Neil M. Rofsky, MD

System Chair of the Department of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology, Mount Sinai Health System

Neil M. Rofsky, MD, is Professor and System Chair of the Department of Diagnostic, Molecular and Interventional Radiology at Mount Sinai Health System. He is an internationally renowned leader in academic radiology and an expert in MRI, with a track record of translating innovation into new standards of clinical care. Dr. Rofsky has incorporated coaching concepts into a transformational leadership style that he teaches on local, regional, and national levels to improve communication and collaboration. He also serves as Senior Associate Dean of Well-Being and Coaching, advancing well-being across the Mount Sinai Health System.

F. Scott Nowakowski, MD

F. Scott Nowakowski, MD

Director of Quality Interventional Radiology, Mount Sinai Health System

Francis Scott Nowakowski, MD, is Director of Quality for Interventional Radiology at Mount Sinai Hospital, System Vice Chairman for Wellness for the Department of Radiology, and a nationally recognized interventional radiologist. He is a founding member of the iCARE Team, a peer-support program for healthcare professionals following challenging clinical events, and serves as the Well-Being Champion for Radiology. Through his role, he helps identify workforce challenges, develop local well- being initiatives, and foster a culture of support and continuous improvement. .

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1

Medscape. Physician Mental Health & Well-Being Report 2025 [Internet] 2025

2

Ligibel JA, Goularte N, Berliner JI, et al. Well-Being Parameters and Intention to Leave Current Institution Among Academic Physicians. JAMA Network Open. 2023;6(12):e2347894. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen. 2023.47894

3

Internal survey data from Mount Sinai showed that, after introducing the Reading Room Coordinator function, the proportion of radiologists reporting that clerical tasks “always or very often” created a barrier to their well-being decreased from 77.9% to 39.4% (a reduction of nearly 50%)