Objectives Well-being of healthcare professionals (HCPs) is vital for care quality, staff retention and overall healthcare system effectiveness. This study aims to identify the organisational and workplace variables associated with sick leave and measures of engagement of HCPs on department level within a single Dutch academic hospital.
Design Cross-sectional study using routinely collected organisational data. Setting A tertiary-care academic hospital in the Netherlands.
Participants 25 clinical departments were included. Department level variables were derived from routinely collected hospital databases.
Availability of data varied across variables. Analysis included information on patient population, human resources, care processes, quality of care and employee and patient experiences to assess differences, correlations and predictors for sick leave and engagement.
Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcome measures were (1) sick leave (%) and (2) engagement, assessed through two staff-survey items (vitality and connectedness; 0 - 10 Numeric Rating Scale). Both outcomes were analysed at department level.
Results Employee population data showed the most consistent patterns across analyses. Departments with higher staffing capacity had higher sick leave and lower engagement in group comparisons (p=0.009, p=0.030, respectively).