Physician burnout remains prevalent among physicians and is a driver of poor engagement and increased rates of turnover. In our White Paper: Back from Burnout: Confronting the Post-Pandemic Physician Turnover Crisis, we outline 10 ways to begin mitigating burnout within healthcare organizations.
1: Lower Administrative Burdens
Reduce paperwork by optimizing EHRs, improving ease of charting, and using nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to help with doctors’ electronic in-baskets.
2: More Effective Communication
Ensure communication between administrators and physicians is concise, impactful, and tailored to physicians’ concerns. Acknowledge that physician feedback is being considered in decision-making.
3: Improved Autonomy/Strong Dyad Partnership
Provide more control over physicians’ work lives to increase their sense of purpose and minimize feelings of moral injury that contribute to burnout. A boost in communication between physicians and administrative leaders is the first step to improved dyad leadership.
4: Better Clinical Support
Find ways care teams can improve their performance to lighten the burden on physicians including the use of scribes, hiring more NPs and PAs, and ensure all providers are working at the top of their licensure.
5: Flexible/Updated Work Schedules
The four-day work schedule is now the new standard to ensure physicians can take more time off. Reducing physicians’ call responsibilities and creating part-time positions for physicians are also effective.
6: More Paid Time Off
Consider new opportunities for vacations, sabbaticals, or other time away from the practice to support physicians in recharging their passion for medicine.
7: Dedicated Wellness/Training/Counseling Resources
Increase mental health resources, peer-to-peer counseling, life coaching, and even time management training.
8: Improving Patient Scheduling
Improve physicians’ sense of lost influence over clinical matters like which types of patient visits are seen and when.
9: Hiring More Physicians
Bring in another doctor to ensure patient panel size is manageable. Whether it be a permanent position or locum tenens, it can improve feelings of overwork.
10: Boosting Compensation
Consider a boost in take-home pay for physicians who closely track their productivity and contributions to the organization can serve as acknowledgment of their hard work.
Get more insight. Download our White Paper: Back from Burnout: Confronting the Post-Pandemic Physician Turnover Crisis Survey Results. For more information about how your healthcare organization can use the results of this survey to improve your physician recruitment and retention strategy, contact Jackson Physician Search today.
