{"id":1848,"date":"2019-10-15T09:09:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T16:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/?p=1848"},"modified":"2019-10-08T09:11:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T16:11:00","slug":"solving-the-problem-of-physician-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/solving-the-problem-of-physician-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving the Problem of Physician Burnout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Doctors\ndedicate their lives to making patients better, but ironically, those same\npatients can negatively affect a doctor\u2019s well-being, leading many physicians\nto experience burnout. Nearly half of all U.S. doctors experience feelings of\nexhaustion, depression, depersonalization and failure, leading many health\nprofessionals to declare physician burnout a widespread epidemic. Its effects\nare far-reaching; doctors who are physically and mentally exhausted tend to be\nless engaged and more likely to make mistakes, putting patients at risk. It\u2019s a\nsort of vicious circle that impacts quality of care, patient safety and patient\nsatisfaction. Clearly, something needs to be done to reverse the trend&#8230;but\nwhat?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Do\nDoctors Suffer Burnout?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/burn-out.jpg\" alt=\"a match on fire \" class=\"wp-image-1849\" width=\"543\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/burn-out.jpg 640w, https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/burn-out-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite\nthe name, physician burnout isn\u2019t confined solely to doctors. It can affect\nother clinical staff including nurses, physician assistants and even front\noffice personnel. Health care professionals blame burnout on a wide variety of\nfactors: bureaucracy, an overabundance of administrative tasks, long hours, low\nwages, lack of respect and growing reliance on automation are all cited as\nreasons for this growing disconnect.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Menial\ntasks and increased documentation are two especially significant factors; these\nchores limit the amount of quality time physicians are able to spend with\npatients and cut into their personal time, as well. Research shows that for\nevery hour they spend with patients, doctors spend two hours on paperwork in\nelectronic health record (EHR) systems. This documentation involves more than\nclinical notes; physicians must complete medical necessity clauses, quality\nmeasures, billing codes, and more. There are an average of 58 new reporting\nrequirements issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)\nalone each year. While it might seem tempting to devote as little time as\npossible to regulatory reporting, the shift in health care from fee-for-service\npayment to value-based care demands accuracy and completeness as it is used to\ndetermine whether physicians receive partial or full reimbursement for services\nrendered.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nbest solution to the problem involves technology. The Health Information\nTechnology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American\nRecovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, offered incentives for the use of\nelectronic health records. This has spurred many health care practices to\ndigitize patient medical records, promising improvements in productivity and\nefficiency. However, a lack of understanding about the differing needs of\nhealth care practices and problems sharing patient data across multiple systems\nhave hampered these efforts, frustrating physicians who feel they are being\nheld hostage by poor technology. Current EHR systems focus on documentation\nrather than the needs of the physician and patient. Overcoming these hurdles\nrequires a shift toward the overall clinician experience and taking advantage\nof innovations such as cloud technology and machine learning to give doctors\nthe tools required to provide quality care and prevent burnout.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Health\ncare technology will evolve into secure, interconnected, user-friendly systems\nthat offer easy access to patient health data. When this occurs, physician\nburnout numbers are likely to drop significantly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Doctors dedicate their lives to making patients better, but ironically, those same patients can negatively affect a doctor\u2019s well-being, leading many physicians to experience burnout. Nearly half of all U.S. doctors experience feelings of exhaustion, depression, depersonalization and failure, leading many health professionals to declare physician burnout a widespread epidemic. Its effects are far-reaching; doctors&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"schema":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Solving the Problem of Physician Burnout | ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT | Doctors dedicate their lives to making patients better, but ironically, those same patients can 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