Although occupational burnout among clinicians is higher than in the U.S. workforce, the American Medical Association and its research partners tracked unemployment during the modern era. epidemic, which they say is at an all-time high.
But last year, the AMA recognized the San Diego Children’s Primary Care Medical Group, out of 44 health systems cited for emphasizing occupational benefits, for implementing a community assistance program. and welfare committees to address burnout.
The doctor-owned pediatric clinic serves more than 270,000 active patients in 29 clinics in the area.
It’s been working to redesign its care team to help reduce pediatricians’ workloads and administrative burdens as it joins the AMA’s Health System Accreditation Program this year. , according to the National Health Organization.
CPCMG turned to AMA because they needed to develop a plan to address burnout and measure their efforts.
Dr. Genevieve Parsons, pediatrician and clinical medical director, said: “Especially in pediatrics, the workload hasn’t decreased and the number of cases has reached winter numbers. Normally , disease levels will be lower in the fall”. is at CPCMG, according to the story.
“The large number of patients with this condition and efforts to keep children out of the emergency room may only contribute to increased levels of burnout,” she said.
CPCMG conducted its association burnout survey in January. According to Parsons, the follow-up process, which includes meeting with association leadership, has helped shape the provider’s efforts to redesign the care team and implement ways to track and measure whether the efforts of whether they work or not, according to Parsons.
CPCMG’s plan to redesign the care team has four parts:
- Improve the efficiency of good examination – CPCMG’s medical director and chief nursing officer is identifying steps to improve the effectiveness of the child’s well-being check-up process – from scheduling to physical visits.
- Complex patient identification – CPCMG’s chief medical information officer and IT lead are working with care teams to create a model to identify more complex patients.
- Enhance patient communication – Finding a better way to communicate is expected to help doctors and their teams free up EHRs in the shopping cart to save time and improve the patient care and care team experience.
- Developing the ideal care team This requires looking at HR models to define that team.
While some of the changes are long-term, “It’s been a long process, and we’re also looking for quick wins to figure out how we can actually make a lot of difference sooner,” Parsons said.
She added that CPCMG is planning its next AMA survey in the first quarter of 2023 and will use the results and follow-up discussions to help guide next year’s strategy.
Dr. Gerald E. Harmon, president of the AMA, commented: “The COVID-19 pandemic has put great strain on doctors and other healthcare professionals.
“While it is important for health systems to focus on the health of the care team, it is more urgent than ever that the acute stress of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed part of the increased rates of work overload, anxiety and depression.” he said in the AMA story.
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS.
