Improving well-being in hospitals is a team effort

As the first-ever chief wellness officer of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Jennifer Bickel has seen important progress in helping doctors and staff stay healthy.

Even though she relishes her role, Bickel says improving the well-being of staff takes commitment across the organization.

“I think that sometimes organizations think they can hire a chief wellness officer and that'll take care of everything, but that's not the case whatsoever,” Bickel says. “It requires collaboration from so many different people that shape the experience of our healthcare workforce.”

The MD Anderson Cancer Center recently received its first ever “gold level” recognition from the American Medical Association’s Joy in Medicine program, which honors hospitals for their success in improving physician well-being.

In an interview with Chief Healthcare Executive®, Bickel talks about some efforts at MD Anderson that are proving to be successful. She also shares insights on ways health systems can help improve the workplace for doctors, nurses, and all staff.

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‘One sponsor is not enough’

While improving well-being requires work across the health system, Bickel points to the need for support from top leadership for those efforts to gain traction.

“I just don't think it can happen without it,” Bickel says. “I've seen situations in which one member of the executive leadership team really truly gets it. They get it. They understand that this isn't yoga at lunch, which isn't bad, but they understand that it takes more than that. They understand that this isn't a free pair of branded swag of socks.”

But she says it requires more than one leader in the health system to help ensure that wellness efforts will last.

“If the entire executive leadership team doesn't get it, then there's never true buy-in. So in order for me to be able to affect the nurses, I need our chief nursing executive's buy-in. She and I meet on a regular basis,” Bickel says.

“In order to be able to get the budget approval and all those sorts of things, I need the CFO buy-in,” she adds. “I need to make sure that the wellness initiatives aren't the first things that are cut as soon as you see budget problems. And that sometimes happens if you don't have that widespread executive leadership support. One sponsor is not enough.”

‘Well-being champions’

Bickel is also making sure that staff know that if they are feeling overwhelmed or want to seek support for their mental health, they can do so without worrying about having a negative impact on their career.

Wellness and physician leaders say some doctors and nurses have been reluctant to seek help with their mental health because of concerns that it could hurt their careers or even affect their licensure.

Many licensing boards have dropped invasive questions about mental health. As of Sept. 25, 2026, 82 licensing boards have dropped intrusive questions from their applications, according to the Lorna Breen Foundation, which advocates for the mental health of clinicians.

Bickel says MD Anderson is working to make sure staff understand that such changes have taken place and they can seek help without fear of negative career consequences.

MD Anderson has also designated “well-being champions” across the system.

“We have almost 2,000 well-being champions across the organization who take some of the different things that our office develops, and then they spread it throughout the organization for us through other local teams,” she says.

New staff members also are given guidance about accessing mental health support in their orientation. Corey Feist, the co-founder of the Lorna Breen Foundation, recently spoke to hundreds of staff members at MD Anderson.

Addressing burnout

Bickel says it’s critical for health systems to address burnout, and she stresses that she sees it in staff of all ages and experience levels.

“We don't see these amazing generational differences in burnout rates,” Bickel says. “There is not a generation that is protected from the burnout rates. We see some variations, but one thing to remember is that burnout increases your intent to leave. It increases turnover.”

Generally, she says a leading contributor to burnout is dealing with administrative tasks.

“I don't know a doctor from any generation that is not willing to stay and work hard for patient care,” she says. “But what I do see is pushback on staying late to be able to document for two hours.”

MD Anderson has adopted AI-powered documentation solutions, which have shortened the amount of time doctors are spending on updating patient records. She says ambient documentation, which records doctor-patient conversations and provides summaries of the visit, are reducing stress.

But she says a key is helping staff see that the work they are doing has value.

“What we know is being able to have meaning in work, being able to feel like you're truly making a difference, those are antidotes to burnout,” she says.

Bringing people together

MD Anderson has also launched a “Commensality” program to give clinicians designated time outside of the workday to support each other and improve well-being. Bickel says the program mirrors an initiative started at the Mayo Clinic.

Small groups of faculty will meet for meals once a month. She says staff are given a curriculum, which can include articles to read or TED Talks to watch. More than 20 groups at MD Anderson are meeting regularly.

The meals are meant to go beyond gripes about the workplace and help to build well-being.

“It's actually about overcoming mistakes, finding meaning in work, and so much more,” Bickel says.

She adds some who are skeptical of the time involved see value in the meals. She also says the same members in each cohort meet, which is a key to success.

“People wouldn't think about this as being related to patient care, but a sense of belonging is again another antidote to burnout,” Bickel says. “And we know that burnout decreases the patient experience, decreases patient quality, decreases patient safety. So anything that we can do to decrease burnout improves patient care.”

‘This is hard work’

Health systems aiming to improve the well-being of staff shouldn’t underestimate the effort involved.

“This is hard work,” Bickel says. “It's really hard work. If it was easy, it would be fixed.”

She also says wellness leaders should also give themselves some grace. Bickel says wellness efforts can sometimes elicit cynicism.

“People roll their eyes about wellness and well-being. They roll their eyes about those sorts of things, and so there's cynicism in it, and probably well deserved in a lot of different ways,” Bickel says.

“But this is hard work, and there's no quick fix,” she says. “I see too often that people think that they'll be able to do one thing, one big splash, and it'll change, and it and it really won't.”

Health systems need to have patience in wellness efforts, and she also says leaders must have “curiosity and collaboration.”

To make progress, Bickel says health systems must have “curiosity about what is wrong, what am I hearing, and collaboration around solving those problems.”