A Quebec research team mapped the self-reported experiences of primary care clinicians (CREM) related to well-being according to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) reference framework and created an interactive database. The well-being of clinicians is the cornerstone of an effective healthcare system, enabling safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, and equitable services.
Clinician-reported experience measures
Clinician-reported experience measures (CREMs) are self-reported measures by healthcare and social services workers. Exploring the experiences of clinicians helps to highlight the factors that influence their well-being and identify areas where intervention is needed.
Authors
Dorsa Salimi¹, Paula L. Bush¹, Ashkan Baradaran¹, Anaïs Lacasse², Pascaline Kengne Talla³, Thomas G. Poder⁴, Maude Laberge⁴, Sonia Lussier⁵, Antoine Groulx7, Patrick M. Archambault7, Tracie A. Barnett¹
Affiliations
¹ Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
2. Département des sciences de la santé, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada.
3. Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
4. Department of Management, Evaluation and Health Policy, School of Public Health, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
5. Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
6. Patient partner, Unité de soutien au système de santé apprenant Québec, Montréal, QC, Canada.
7. Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Genevieve Gore for developing the search strategy, Ilhem C. Bousbiat, Bilé Yacouba Djedou, Sarah Gorguous, Caitlin Heiligmann, Jack Moncado, Raphaela Nikolopoulos, and André Nguyen for helping with article selection and coding, and Niloofar Nikgoftar for double checking the coding in EPPI-Reviewer.
What Shapes Clinician Wellbeing in Primary Care? An Evidence and Gap Map of Clinician Experiences in Primary Care © 2025 by Dorsa Salimi, Paula L. Bush, Ashkan Baradaran, Anaïs Lacasse, Pascaline Kengne Talla, Thomas G. Poder, Maude Laberge, Sonia Lussier, Antoine Groulx, Patrick M. Archambault, Tracie A. Barnett
Data and gap mapping provides a comprehensive overview of how clinicians’ experiences related to well-being are represented in the qualitative literature. In this map, data can be filtered in various ways, including by country and by type of clinician (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work, etc.).
Experiences reported according to NAM framework factors
Using the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) framework, the map organizes experiences according to key external and individual factors that influence clinicians’ well-being:
- Learning/ practice Environment
- Organizational Factors
- Healthcare Responsibilities
- Society and Culture
- Skills and Abilities
- Personal Factors
- Rules and Regulations
Enlighten research and policy
The mapped data is a resource to guide future qualitative syntheses to inform research and policies aimed at better supporting the well-being of clinicians. The results show that external factors are mentioned more frequently, providing information that can inform system-wide interventions.
By visually synthesizing a large body of qualitative literature and making it accessible via an interactive online map, the project helps research teams, policymakers, and stakeholders identify areas where data is concentrated, where gaps remain, and where additional research or action may be needed to better support the well-being of clinicians in primary care settings.