11856
65
False

Posted March 14, 2016

Five Things Physicians Need to be Fully Engaged

By Rob Schreiner, MD

For at least five years, it’s been fairly easy to find a well-done study to affirm the epidemic of physician burnout. Most recently, Dr. Shanafelt and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic surveyed 36,000 physicians using the gold standard instrument (Maslach Burnout Inventory), and found that 54% of physicians reported some degree of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, or low level of accomplishment, compared with the general working population at 28% (Mayo Clin Proc Dec 2015). Those figures are significantly worse when compared with the researcher’s 2011 results.

Why should both the public (patients) and the industry care? Well, burned-out physicians provide a lesser care experience for patients, lesser levels of quality outcomes, and (I believe) cause higher levels of resource use without patient benefit (see Quint Studer’s publication, Healing Physician Burnout, for more details).

The root causes of physician burnout seem to be (1) reduction in autonomy (more standardization, more employment models, more tightly structured workdays), (2) more non-clinical work than in the past (EMR, accomplishing quality and regulatory tasks, reconciling competing payor-provider demands), and (3) fear, thus anxiety, over “all change, all the time” occurring in the industry today.

Our research, and my 20 years of physician leadership experience, indicate that physicians need five things in their work-life in order to be fully engaged with patients, staff and the institution: (1) Input (into operational problem-solving and change efforts), (2) Operational Efficiencies (because no one wants their time or efforts wasted), (3) Quality Care for their patients (because doctors want to feel pride in where they work), (4) Accurate Feedback on their performance (so they can get better over time), and (5) Acknowledgement for the personal sacrifices and discretionary effort they make on behalf of their patients and the team.

Competent physician leadership can be taught, practiced and improved with time, just like any clinical procedure or task. Most health systems today are making investments in leadership skill building and coaching, given that physician involvement in operational and cultural change is a requisite for success in the newer payment models. Dyad leadership incorporates the wisdom and experience of both the physician and non-physician leader when diagnosing and treating what ails the local delivery system. A well-earned verbal or written “thank you” from colleagues, teammates or leadership is more appreciated by physicians than a modest financial incentive. Stay tuned for future insights on the topic of burnout and if you have questions, please contact us.

Download the Insight

Author

  • Rob Schreiner

    Rob Schreiner, MD

Print Page