Beyond Burnout – Building Relational Resilience in Healthcare Teams
- Brainz Magazine
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Dr. Florence Lewis is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the founder of the Upside Health Research Network (UPHRN), where she helps healthcare providers integrate evidence-based tools to measure and support relational health outcomes.
Burnout in healthcare is often treated as an individual problem, but much of the strain begins within the relationships that hold teams together. This article explores how connection, trust, and shared purpose form the foundation of relational resilience and offers practical, research-backed strategies to help healthcare teams reconnect, recover, and thrive.
The room that fell silent
I once worked with a healthcare team that, on paper, looked perfect, skilled clinicians, strong leadership, solid outcomes. But beneath the surface, the room felt heavy. Team members avoided eye contact. Conversations were short and mechanical. What I saw was not incompetence or lack of effort, it was disconnection.
In the healthcare world, we often discuss burnout as an individual problem, addressing it through self-care, better scheduling, or wellness programs. But in that room, I saw something deeper, relational fatigue. The loss of connection, trust, and shared purpose makes even capable teams vulnerable.
And that observation sparked a shift in my thinking. It prompted me to explore a different approach to burnout, one rooted not just in workload, but in relationship, trust, and resilience.
The hidden epidemic behind burnout
Burnout has become a significant crisis in the healthcare industry. According to a recent study in JAMA Health Forum, physician burnout is a major threat to healthcare quality, patient outcomes, and the vitality of the medical workforce.
But burnout does not just stem from long hours or heavy caseloads, it often arises in the context of relational strain. A 2020 study on relational coordination found that better coordination and communication among roles were significantly associated with lower burnout and higher job satisfaction. Another extensive survey found that local work culture explained approximately 17.6% of the variance in clinician burnout, far more than EHR usage.
When we ignore relational health, how teams connect, communicate, and trust each other, we allow isolation, emotional exhaustion, and decline in well-being to grow, even among the most capable clinicians.
What is relational resilience?
Relational resilience refers to a team’s capacity to withstand and recover from stress through the strength of its collective connections. It is about how people connect, relate, trust, and support one another, especially under pressure.
As a therapist and researcher, I have observed that resilient teams do not simply cope, they lean into each other. They do not avoid hard conversations, they navigate them with empathy and understanding. They do not rely solely on individual grit, they build shared strength.
At Upside Health Research Network, we help healthcare organizations measure and strengthen relational health, the patterns of trust, empathy, and coordination that underlie team well-being and performance.
In this work, I have seen something clear, when teams intentionally nurture relational resilience, burnout drops, morale rises, and innovation follows.
The science behind connection
The evidence is clear, human connection matters.
A cross-sectional national study of US family physicians found that high team efficiency and appropriate EHR time, indirect proxies for good coordination and team functioning, were associated with lower odds of burnout.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of nurse burnout, approximately 288,581 participants across 32 countries, found that burnout was associated with a poorer patient safety climate, lower patient satisfaction, and lower quality of care.
A 2022 longitudinal study of clinicians in a large healthcare system found that relational coordination, how well roles communicate, share goals, and foster mutual respect, predicted greater job satisfaction and lower burnout over time.
When we measure connection, how teams relate, trust, and coordinate, we tap into a dimension of health that is not always visible but has a direct impact on outcomes.
From data to dialogue: applying relational health
How can healthcare leaders help their teams move beyond burnout and toward relational resilience? Here are three practical strategies I have used with organizations:
Measure what matters. Start including relational metrics such as trust, belonging, communication quality, and perceived relational safety in staff surveys and performance evaluations. What gets measured improves.
Build reflective spaces. Create regular, structured opportunities for teams to check in relationally, not just about tasks or metrics, but about connection, shared meaning, and emotional climate. A fifteen-minute relational check-in can prevent months of disengagement.
Use technology ethically to support, not replace, connection. In my consulting work through the Upside Health Research Network, we assist providers in integrating AI and digital tools that identify relational stress or communication breakdowns, not to substitute for empathy but to alert leaders where relational care is faltering.
Relational resilience flourishes when systems design space, tools, and culture to keep human connection at the center, even in high-tech, data-rich environments.
A new vision for healthcare teams
In every healthcare organization I have witnessed thrive, relational health is treated as a critical performance indicator. It is not just about fewer hours worked or fewer errors, it is about how people feel, relate, and support each other.
The most innovative teams are those who blend heart and data, where evidence supports empathy and connection drives performance.
Because at the end of the day, burnout does not begin in isolation, it begins when we stop feeling seen.
The cure is not more endurance. It is more empathy. It is more us.
Read more from Dr. Florence Lewis, PhD, LMFT
Dr. Florence Lewis, PhD, LMFT, Relationships & Health Researcher, Therapist
Dr. Florence Lewis, PhD, LMFT, is a Medical Family Therapist and founder of the Upside Health Research Network (UPHRN), a nonprofit focused on measuring the impact of relationships on health outcomes. With clinical roots in integrated care, she has worked alongside medical teams to support patients' mental, social, and relational well-being. Dr. Lewis is a published author and dynamic speaker on diversity and holistic health. She hosts "The Relational Health Report" podcast. Her current work helps healthcare providers use evidence-based tools and AI to improve relational health metrics in practice. She also runs a private therapy practice supporting individuals and couples in navigating and building healthy relationships amid past emotional trauma.
References:
JAMA Health Forum. (2023). Burnout, Professionalism, and the Quality of US Health Care. Link JAMA Network
Health Care Management Review. (2022). Relationships and resilience at work and at home: Impact of relational coordination on clinician work–life balance and well-being. Link europepmc.org
JAMA Network Open. (2021). Clinician Burnout Associated With Sex, Clinician Type, Work Culture, and Use of Electronic Health Records. Link JAMA Network
JAMA Network Open. (2024). Nurse Burnout and Patient Safety, Satisfaction, and Quality of Care: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Link JAMA Network
JAMA Network Open. (2023). Team and Electronic Health Record Features and Burnout: A study of US Family Physicians. Link JAMA Network
