Signs of Medical Burnout for Physicians & What It Means For Your Health Care
SURVIVEiT is a patient advocate and we believe it’s our job to find solutions to the many roadblocks patients and caregivers face along the way. While we can’t fix everything that’s broken in this current system, one thing we know for certain: most of our doctors are overworked by way of seeing far too many patients than they should, and many of these cases can take a mental and emotional toll. There’s a reason we call them our medical team. We rely on them, trust them, and oftentimes create bonds with them.
They take on a lot of work, responsibility and pressure to help those facing cancer. In today’s fast-paced, and advancing cancer industry it’s even more stressful. This workload has been leading some physicians to show signs of burnout; exhaustion, and a loss of connection to the work. In fact, according to a survey, 54% of doctors reported being affected by burnout signs.
Understandably, the effects of burnout can leave medical professionals feeling exhausted. Hopefully, with advancements like EMR Electronic Medical Records Software, for instance, and effective management practices, they can combat this issue in a better way. With over 50% of the survey participants reporting this type of experience, we believe one way to ensure you’re receiving the very best care and treatment is by seeking a qualified second opinion. Management also needs to understand the point of view of their doctors and take necessary steps to ensure that they do not face burnout. It is understandable that running a hospital in itself can be a daunting task. However, by incorporating effective solutions (such as Revenue Cycle Management Solutions, for example) they can take necessary precautionary measures to deliver the best results in terms of management. We appreciate our doctors, and also know we are our biggest advocates; it’s always a good idea to get another opinion to confirm your diagnosis and treatment strategy.
Another idea that might be useful is to read up about medical burnout and other such related conditions. You might want to look at articles and publications that may report medical news from multiple different countries, such as Management Krankenhaus (German article), or one from America, for example. Having a well-rounded perspective on issues such as this could potentially help an individual to understand the issue better.
Burnout Costs Medical Practices Big $$$
Source: mepagetoday.com
NEW ORLEANS — In addition to causing doctors emotional distress, burnout is now hitting medical practices where it hurts — in the wallet, Mountasser Kadrie, PhD, said here.
“At my medical center, if any physician leaves, for us it’s a $1-million expense — for recruitment, relocation, startup funds,” Kadrie, associate professor of clinical research and leadership at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., said here at the annual meeting of the Medical Group Management Association.
His organization has 650 physicians; last year 25 — nearly 4% — left as a result of burnout. “Do the math; we’re talking about costing us $25 million to replace physicians. It’s costing a lot of funds for organizations when they don’t have in place systems and infrastructure and programs to really deal with physician burnout.”
And practices themselves aren’t the only ones taking notice. “I heard recently an insurance company — a gigantic one — has requested of [hospitals], ‘Why are you having physician turnover? Is it because of physician burnout? What are you going to do with it?’ And they give them 3 years to deal with it or the contract will be taken away,” he said. A 2018 study by researchers at Stanford University found that at Stanford, burnout was at least as responsible for medical errors as were unsafe medical workplace conditions, lack of resources, or mistakes by other employees. Burnout in doctors is compounded by the lack of staff to take care of aspects like Billing, RA/EOB Management, Payment Posting, Collections etc. Doctors are already so swamped with patients and their treatments that the additional stress of all of the above mention can drive them to exhaustion. To prevent this, a lot of hospitals take the help of medical billing companies to take care of the logistics so that the medical practitioners can focus of the carer of their patients without being drowned in the stress of other processes.
However, as of now, physician burnout shows no signs of abating. Doctors simply have too much on their plate. A Mayo Clinic survey published in 2017 found that 54% of doctors reported being affected, while a 2018 survey by the American Medical Group Association found that 57% of physician respondents wouldn’t recommend a career in medicine to their children, said Kadrie. He noted that he currently teaches in an MBA program for physicians; they must be practicing for at least 7 years to qualify. Of the 15 students, 11 are planning to leave medicine. “They are getting this MBA to transition out, to do something else.”
How is burnout defined? The Maslach Burnout Inventory, a 22-item survey first released in 1981, is considered the “gold standard” for measuring burnout, according to Kadrie. Burnout itself includes three components:
- Emotional exhaustion — a lack of passion for work
- Depersonalization — treating patients as objects
- A sense that your work is no longer meaningful
Stress, meanwhile, “is an early sign of burnout but not the entire burnout story,” Kadrie said; his own health system conducts a survey on burnout twice every year, in January and July. Physicians who are burned out “tell us they have no passion any more to do their job. They see their patients as not the core relationship, but as products, as items, because they have a quota to meet and they have to deal with insurance issues, the electronic health record, and so forth…. They’re seeing their relationship with patients as a transactional event.”
What can medical practices do to lessen physician burnout? They need to work on two separate tracks: promoting wellness both at an individual level and at an organizational level, said Kadrie. “We are following the [American Medical Association’s] ‘7 Steps to Prevent Burnout’ — I recommend you follow it; it’s very powerful,” he said. “We rely heavily on data to inform us as leaders in the organization; we try to employ resources based on an evidence-based philosophy.” But they also know that data isn’t everything and that they need to hear from their physicians about what will help them.
In the area of work/life balance, family physicians at the George Washington University health system are limited to seeing 15 patients per day, and all of the outpatient medical faculty must leave the office by 6 p.m. Vacations also are mandatory, Kadrie said. “The chief of medical specialties tracks physicians and staff, and when they see that they don’t take vacations, they sit with them and say, ‘This is going to impact you negatively and professionally.'” The health system also redesigned its electronic medical record (EMR) workflow so that most of the EMR is automated; measures like these have reduced turnover due to burnout from 9% four years ago to 4% today. “I don’t think it will go down to zero, but it’s improving.”
“You have to look at the mission of your organization and see how you can deploy [resources] to deal with the issue of physician burnout,” he said. “It’s a scary issue. You don’t want to see a doctor who is really burned out and doesn’t care.” Mayo Clinic has a great resource for organizations who want to work on promoting physician wellness, he noted.
Medical schools also need to play a part in preventing burnout, Kadrie said. George Washington University follows the “FPU” model: Foster a sense of fellowship; provide medical students and physicians with integrative training and resources; and utilize technology to eliminate the stresses of the job, such as administrative tasks.
Physicians, too, need their own action plan for preventing and treating burnout. “Do not be in denial,” Kadrie said. “You really have to come forward; you have to take steps and recognize your issues. Take an active role in improving your relationship with the organization. Our hospital CEOs and executive teams know every physician’s name in our practice. They invite them for meetings and retreats … We want to speak with them. Some physicians find it very valuable; some don’t, but it’s a work in progress.”
Doctors who have successfully dealt with burnout should also consider helping others who are facing the problem, he added.