In 2021, a Medscape survey found that over 42% of physicians feel burned out. This burnout inevitably takes a huge toll on the healthcare industry. Symptoms of burnout vary from person to person, but the consequences are always similar. Quality of patient care declines, more administrative and medical errors occur, and turnover rates increase. The good news is that there are ways to alleviate burnout among practices, and it has the potential to not only improve the mental health of physicians, but also improve care. Here are some physician burnout solutions that any specialty should consider!
Encourage a More Positive Work Environment
The happier a physician’s staff is at a practice, the likelier it is that the physician will receive the support that they need to prevent burning out. This is accomplished by restructuring workflows to foster this better, while placing a larger emphasis on the staff’s well-being as a whole. While ways to achieve this may vary from practice to practice, offering mental health support when needed, keeping the lines of communication open, and promoting opportunities to learn and grow are all great ways to make the clinic a positive environment for everyone — both physicians and staff alike.
Reduce the Administrative Burdens of Physicians
Administrative burdens are one of the leading causes of physician burnout. Tediously entering detailed patient information day in and day out is cumbersome and a huge time-killer. In no time, it leads to countless evenings of after-hours documentation that detracts from a physician’s quality of life. In order to cut back on the tiring administrative tasks a physician does each day, make efforts to have as much information gathered as possible before a physician even sees a patient. This is accomplished by a remote, comprehensive pre-registration and documentation process where the patient has the power to do some of the legwork before the time of their visit.
Turn to Technology to Alleviate Stress
If sharing information between team members is a challenge for a practice, software integrated into their EHR has the potential to fix that. A well-designed patient engagement platform increases efficiency and saves time for physicians, dramatically reducing their chance of burnout. Some software comes with accurate diagnostic tools that are able to assess the patient’s issues before the physician sees them, saving valuable minutes per visit and eliminating redundant clicks in the exam room.
DocResponse: One of the Best Physician Burnout Solutions
DocResponse is clinic workflow software designed to alleviate physician burnout. This comprehensive, all-in-one digital check-in solution has the power to:
- Encourage a positive work environment by reducing the workload of front desk staff, with all pre-visit registration paperwork completed by the patient digitally before their visit and online scheduling options
- Reduce the administrative burdens of physicians by eliminating redundancy and time-consuming clicks, combined with a #1 Harvard-ranked patient assessment tool to save time during each visit
- Alleviate stress by streamlining workflows in clinics with its interface that is fully integrated into EHRs, which provides real-time updates and ensures all team members see the same data
Regardless of the physician’s specialty, DocResponse empowers them to reduce their chances of burnout significantly. Schedule a demo to learn more about how this solution will accomplish this goal!