Leading with Resilience: Cultivating Mentorship and Community to Mitigate Burnout in Interprofessional Practice and Education

Demands on interprofessional leaders in healthcare and education have significantly worsened the problem of burnout. This seminar is an intervention designed to equip both current and emerging IPE leaders with actionable strategies to combat burnout and cultivate sustainable well-being. We will move beyond individual coping mechanisms to explore systemic solutions, emphasizing the power of mentorship networks and communities of practice. Our insights will draw from the U.S. Surgeon General's report on health worker burnout and the concept of Pedagogical Wellness, highlighting how collaborative practices and resilient interprofessional teams are crucial antidotes to the chronic workplace stress and moral injury that often precede clinician burnout.

This seminar directly addresses the Nexus Summit 2025 theme, "Developing and Sustaining Leadership in Interprofessional Practice and Education," by focusing on the elements leaders need to thrive in complex environments. Mentorship acts as a critical scaffold for growth, knowledge transfer, and emotional support, directly contributing to leader longevity and efficacy. Fostering communities of practice cultivates shared resilience, facilitates collective problem-solving, and combats the isolation that often precedes burnout, thereby sustaining leaders through peer support and mutual learning. The AIHC Leadership Working Group serves as an example of a community dedicated to advancing IPE leadership and providing mentorship opportunities. By equipping leaders with tools to foster well-being, this session aims to reduce turnover and improve the overall health of interprofessional centers.

After attending this session, you will be able to:
Analyze the systemic drivers of burnout in interprofessional practice and education settings and articulate their impact on leadership sustainability and team wellness.
Develop strategies for leveraging mentorship to enhance resilience and foster growth.
Implement community-building techniques to create supportive networks that facilitate shared problem-solving, reduce professional isolation, and actively mitigate burnout.
Apply collaborative problem-solving frameworks to address leadership challenges related to burnout and sustainability.

Participants will gain techniques for identifying signs of burnout in themselves and others within IPE teams. You will learn frameworks for establishing mentorship relationships and acquire strategies for initiating and nurturing communities of practice. The session will provide hands-on experience with adaptable "Wise Crowds"-inspired collaborative problem-solving steps for group application, along with advocacy skills for promoting "Pedagogical Wellness" and systemic changes to reduce burnout.

This seminar directly impacts Quadruple Aim outcomes by focusing on "improving the wellness of the health care team," thereby contributing to enhanced patient experience, population health, and value within healthcare systems. It aims for measurable learning outcomes related to leadership resilience and team effectiveness. The emphasis on mentorship and community inherently promotes interprofessional collaboration.

The seminar will utilize a blend of interactive polling (e.g., for self-assessment of burnout indicators), collaborative chat discussions for sharing challenges, and a modified "Wise Crowds" activity (inspired by the AIHC Leadership Group's approach) where participants collaboratively address leadership dilemmas related to burnout and well-being. Small group discussions will be structured with rotating roles to ensure active engagement beyond traditional breakout rooms, fostering peer-driven feedback and collective intelligence. A reflective debriefing will synthesize key takeaways and practical applications.