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BACKGROUND: Improving physician health and performance is critical to successfully meet the challenges facing health systems that increasingly emphasize productivity. Assessing long-term efficacy and sustainability of programs aimed at enhancing physician and organizational well-being is imperative. OBJECTIVE:To determine whether data-guided interventions and a systematic improvement process to enhance physician work-life balance and organizational efficacy can improve physician and organizational well-being. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS:From 2000 to 2005, 22-32 physicians regularly completed 3 questionnaires coded for privacy. Results were anonymously reported to physicians and the organization. Data-guided interventions to enhance physician and organizational well-being were built on physician control over the work environment, order in the clinical setting, and clinical meaning. MEASUREMENTS:Questionnaires included an ACP/ ASIM survey on physician satisfaction, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Quality Work Competence (QWC) survey.RESULTS: Emotional and work-related exhaustion decreased significantly over the study period (MBI, p= 0.002; QWC, p=0.035). QWC measures of organizational health significantly improved initially and remained acceptable and stable during the rest of the study. CONCLUSIONS:A data-guided program on physician well-being, using validated instruments and process improvement methods, enhanced physician and organizational well-being. Given the increases in physician burnout, organizations are encouraged to urgently create individual and systems approaches to lessen burnout risk.KEY WORDS: physician satisfaction; organizational behavior; health care administration.

The perception of having made a mistake creates significant emotional distress for practicing physicians. The severity of this distress may be influenced by factors such as prior beliefs and perfectionism. The extent to which physicians share this distress with colleagues may be influenced by the degree of competitiveness engendered by medical training. Open discussion of mistakes should be more prominent in medical training and practice, and there should be continued research on this topic.