Efficacy of the Well-Being Index to identify distress and stratify well-being in nurse practitioners and physician assistants

Liselotte N. Dyrbye, Pamela O. Johnson, Le Ann M. Johnson, Michael P. Halasy, Andrea A. Gossard, Daniel Satele, Tait Shanafelt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background and purpose: To evaluate the ability of the Well-Being Index (WBI) to stratify distress and well-being (high quality of life [QOL]) in nurse practitioners and physician assistants (NPs and PAs) and identify those whose degree of distress place them at an increased risk for medical error or turnover. Methods: A national sample of NPs and PAs completed a survey that included the WBI and instruments to measure QOL, fatigue, burnout, recent suicidal ideation, medical error, and intent to leave the current job. Conclusions: Overall, 1,576 of 4,106 (38.4%) NPs and PAs completed the survey. Those NPs and PAs with low mental QOL, extreme fatigue, recent suicidal ideation, or burnout had less favorable WBI scores (all p <.0001). Using a prevalence of low overall QOL among APPs of 14.4% as the pretest probability, the WBI score can reduce the posttest probability of low QOL to 2% or increase it to 64.7%. As the WBI score worsened, the posttest probability of high overall QOL decreased from 73% to 8.2%. Also, WBI score stratified the NPs and PAs likelihood of reporting recent medical errors and intent to leave his or her current job. Implications for practice: The WBI is a useful screening tool to stratify distress and well-being in APPs across a variety of domains and identify those NPs and PAs whose degree of distress may increase the risk of medical error or turnover.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)403-412
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners
Volume31
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2019

Keywords

  • Advance practice
  • burnout
  • fatigue
  • job turnover
  • medical error
  • nurse practitioners
  • physician assistants
  • quality of life
  • self-assessment
  • suicidal ideation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Nursing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Efficacy of the Well-Being Index to identify distress and stratify well-being in nurse practitioners and physician assistants'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this