Positive communication for decreasing burnout in intensive-care-unit staff: a cluster-randomized trial.

Positive communication for decreasing burnout in intensive-care-unit staff: a cluster-randomized trial. Intensive care medicine Azoulay, É., Myatra, S. N., Heras La Calle, G., Jaber, S., Boulanger, C., Demirkýran, O., Theodorakopoulou, M., Paiva, J. A., Arabi, Y. M., Burghi, G., van Heerden, P. V., Al Fares, A., Kentish-Barnes, N., Martin-Delgado, M. C., Mistraletti, G., Francois, G., Barth, A., De Waele, J., Shanafelt, T. D., Darmon, M., Cecconi, M. 2025

Abstract

Occupational burnout is common among intensive-care-unit (ICU) staff and adversely affects staff well-being and patient care. We hypothesized that a multicomponent intervention based on organizational support and workplace climate improvement would reduce burnout.The 1:1 cluster-randomized Hello trial involved 370 ICUs from sixty countries allocated to either the intervention or usual care. The four-week intervention designed to promote a positive workplace culture and within-team support used posters, email nudges, greetings during morning meetings, role modeling, and positive messages in boxes and on noticeboards. The primary endpoint was burnout prevalence, measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Secondary outcomes included MBI subscale scores, well-being, job satisfaction, ethical climate, intention to leave, work safety, and professional conflicts.Before the intervention, burnout prevalence was 59.4% (95% CI, 58.6-60.5), with no difference between arms. After the intervention, 4966 intervention-arm and 4602 control-arm healthcare professionals completed the MBI. Burnout prevalence was significantly lower in the intervention arm relative to controls (52.2% vs. 63.3%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.56; 95%CI 0.46-0.68; P?

View details for DOI 10.1007/s00134-025-08134-2

View details for PubMedID 41165789

View details for PubMedCentralID 10354163