Physician Burnout Prevention MATRIX FREE Report
Over 117 different ways to lower stress and prevent burnout inside
A game plan for Doctors and Organizations to work together in a Balanced Approach to Burnout Prevention
With 1 in 3 doctors suffering from symptomatic burnout on any given office day, it is high time to survey for and address burnout in a comprehensive solution. Physician satisfaction is the foundation for patient satisfaction and quality care. The most successful healthcare organizations in the near future will be those who take the best care of their doctors and staff and are actively preventing burnout using multiple coordinated methods. Here are over 117 ways to get started.
The Matrix
When you understand the pathophysiology of burnout, it quickly becomes clear there are only two methods of preventing burnout.
You can lower the stress and energy drain on the physician
You can increase your ability to recharge your physical, emotional and spiritual energy accounts
There are two sources of these burnout prevention activities
The individual physician
The organization where the physician provides care
Hence the 2 X 2 Matrix you see belowDownload your FREE copy of the Burnout Prevention Matrix Report and more than 117 ways for doctors and organizations to prevent burnout using the form below
If you have any questions or would like tips and support to dive into the Matrix activities right away. Please use this Contact Form to connect by sending us a quick message.
Here’s to you and your organization creating something extraordinary using the Matrix tools.
Keep breathing and have a great rest of your day,
Dike
Dike Drummond www.TheHappyMD.com
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A Balanced Approach to Physician Burnout Prevention and Physician Wellness
The Scope and Effects of Physician Burnout
Physician burnout is the single biggest threat to any individual doctor’s career and the largest negative influence on quality of care offered by any healthcare organization. The scope of the problem of physician burnout is only recently being acknowledged as we begin to be paid for performance and care quality measures and patient satisfaction scores assume increased importance. Here are some important research proven facts about physician burnout and its effects.
Surveys over the last 20 years have consistently shown that, on average, 1 in 3 doctors are suffering from symptomatic physician burnout on any given work day – worldwide, regardless of specialty.
In a 2012 survey by the Physician’s Foundation, 60% of US physicians reported they would retire immediately if they “had the means”.
Research has also linked physician burnout with the following negative effects on the physician’s life and practice. Note how all of the following also have strongly negative effects on any healthcare organization’s bottom line profitability
Physician Burnout decreases quality of care and patient satisfaction
Physician Burnout increases medical errors, malpractice risk, physician and staff turnover as well as physician divorce, drug and alcohol addiction and suicide rates
The Two Basic Physician Burnout Prevention Methods
When you understand the pathophysiology of physician burnout as the development of a negative balance in your energetic bank accounts, it quickly becomes clear there are only two methods of preventing physician burnout.
You can lower the stress and energy drain on the physician
You can increase your ability to recharge your physical, emotional and spiritual energy accounts
While each of us bears a personal responsibility for maintaining our energy and getting our own needs met, the following two factors get in the way of doctor’s ability to avoid the epidemic of physician burnout.
1) The physician’s missing skill set
We are never taught how to use either of these physician burnout prevention methods. Our medical education focused on creating a competent clinician who could diagnose and treat disease in humans effectively and efficiently. We focused on surviving the training process itself. Our residency training was a “work hardening” experience that did not teach how to be a healthy doctor and create a balanced life.
At the same time, research shows a number of tools are effective for preventing physician burnout. Unfortunately, most physicians only learn about them after they are out in practice looking for ways to deal with their early stage physician burnout.
2) The design of the work environment
The majority of physicians are not in control of their working environment. We spend hours a day in an office, hospital or O.R. setting that is constructed by the organizations to which we belong. Many doctors provide care inside systems for billing, documentation and patient flow that they did not design and over which they have no control. These same systems are the single most important influence on our stress levels and energy drain on a day to day basis.
For many physicians it often seems like the organizational systems get in the way of our ability to practice medicine and our requests and complaints fall on deaf ears. These non-clinical stresses of being a physician are a major cause of physician burnout.
For this reason, organizations bear a parallel and equally important responsibility for the health, wellness and stress levels of their physicians and staff. Healthcare organizations often overlook their responsibility to create a supportive and healthy workplace in ways that are surprising given the nature of their charge to heal the sick.
I believe this industry-wide gap in awareness is an extension of the individual provider’s blind spot with regards to getting our own needs met. Nurses, doctors and other staff members all learn that the patient comes first. We are notorious for not getting our own needs met and leading unbalanced lives.
Organizations often adopt a systemized version of the same blind spot, focusing on quality of care or patient satisfaction to the exclusion of all else. For most organizations, the providers and staff do not even appear in the mission statement.
Which Comes First – Patient or Physician Satisfaction?
In this current environment of pay for performance based on patient satisfaction and care quality – it is important to remember the simple phrase “happy doctors have happy patients”. This becomes obvious when you consider the following question:
“How can we expect a patient to give today’s treatment experience a 5 out of 5 score for satisfaction (“outstanding”) — when the doctor and nurse that cared for them would score their satisfaction with their work day and their organization a 3 out of 5 or worse?”
Taking Balanced Responsibility
Provider and staff wellness and satisfaction are the foundation on which patient satisfaction is built.
I believe in the years ahead that the most successful and profitable healthcare organizations will be those who take the best care of the people within their system and then give them the tools and support to provide great care.
It is the search for this balanced approach to physician and staff wellness and satisfaction lead to the creation of the Physician Burnout Prevention Matrix.
The Physician Burnout Prevention Matrix and 117 Burnout Prevention Techniques
The matrix below combines the two main physician burnout prevention methods
Lowering Stress and Energy Drain
Increasing Recharge Activities and Efficiency
With the two responsible entities
The physician’s personal responsibility
The organization’s responsibility to the physician
