Health Care Thoughts: Physician Burnout
by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt
Health Care Thoughts: Physician Burnout
During the years I worked every day with physicians I learned a great deal, including about the time pressure, the relentless work flow and the sleep deprivation during physicians’ “on call” days.
A Mayo Clinic (http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1351351) has been published and 50% of physicians are feeling impacts of burnout. Not a surprise to me.
Some of this stress may be alleviated by the trend of physicians becoming hospital employees and hospitalists covering inpatients rather than family practice and internal medicine docs.
Will PPACA crank up the stress? We have high expectations of our physicians and the health system in general, may we have to temper those expectations just a bit?
Other things to help build more urgent care clinics open until at least 9 pm and weekends. With electronic medical records, patients are told if its not enough for the emergency room, go there, do not call the physician at all hours. Or the physician outsources the call handling to a central location.
Of course becoming an employee de-stresses as managment tasks are handled by others.
“We have high expectations of our physicians and the health system in general, may we have to temper those expectations just a bit?”
Why should we? Our health care system delivers poorer results than those that cost half as much.
STR, Since you seem to have personal contact with the problem could you help me understand why ‘time pressure, the relentless work flow and the sleep deprivation during physicians’ “on call” days.’ occurs?
For example, do we need to train more doctors? I don’t see how throwing more love and sympathy at the problem produces a solution or even less “burn-out”. I already have low expectations but the witch doctors and shamen are not accepting new patients.
But I hope you see the point. If there is a problem; is there no solution if we resist increase cost?