Introduction: During the COVID-19 crisis, medical providers face stress, feelings of isolation and fear. Hence, in April 2020, Cleveland Clinic Community Care, a provider of inpatient and outpatient services, created a “Wellness and Self-Care” task force to support employee wellness. The objective of this quality improvement report is to describe and evaluate the task force's efforts. Methods: The task force created a list of free wellness resources: daily yoga and guided meditation, snacks, tea and coffee (“nourish stations”), continuous access to mental health counseling and organized employees into neighborhood support groups. We evaluated the program in May 2020 using a cross-sectional survey of clinical and non-clinical employees. The survey included questions on responsibility changes related to COVID-19, fulfillment and burnout and wellness services used. Responders were grouped in “none or some” and “most or all” responsibilities changed. We described our results using Pearson's chi-square and Student's t-tests. Results: We received 736 responses, a response rate of 45%. A quarter of responders (27%) needed family care;8% had been quarantined;42% reported that most or all of their work responsibilities changed. The highest level of burnout was reported by those who had most or all of their responsibility changed. Frequently used resources were information tip sheets (51%), online resources (44 %), virtual live yoga and meditation classes (25%), and nourish stations (6%). Conclusions: The task force addressed employee wellness during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employees with mostly or all changed responsibilities experienced higher levels of burnout compared to those whose responsibilities were minimally or not changed. One year into the pandemic with the responsibilities back to normal or not "new" anymore, it is worthwhile to reassess if the groups are less split and if other groups are affected more now. Key words: employee wellness;COVID-19;professional fulfillment;burnout
Supporting Employee Wellness Within a Large Health System During the COVID-19 Crisis