Ways to Prevent and Protect Yourself from Physician Burnout

Our occupation occupies a central place in our lives. In the times we are living most of us are engaged in our professions most of the time. Our professions definitely help us earn to make our ends meet and help us live the lives that we are ought to live. However, at the same time, it is our occupation that gives us the most stress.

Whether it is the IT industry, an eCommerce business, or the healthcare industry, every professional engaged in each industry has to handle a considerable amount of both physical and mental pressure. Though we often talk of job life satisfaction, it is the same thing that most of us have reported being missing out on. Besides, many times it was also reported that the occupation turns to be because of burnouts.

What is burnout?

Burnout can be described as a kind of stress that manifests itself in people, as a result of which they get emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted. Burnouts are generally caused by excessive stress or stress for a prolonged span of time.

One such burnout is clear if somebody seems to be overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and fails to meet the perpetual demands that their job demands. Yes, among all the burnouts reported by the people, a large portion of them cited to be from the medical industry.

The physicians often turn to be the victims of burnouts, in fact, they are the persons who are most prone to such instances.

Here are some other people from different industries who face burnouts:

Social workers - Social workers are those who think about society and work accordingly. With the increasing population and the expanding list of things that they need to do for the society with incomes that do not justify their work, burnouts are common among social workers. Besides, most of the people belonging to this sector are exposed to almost a regular hearing or witnessing traumatic experiences of others around them in their society. All of these builds up certain mental anxieties that often lead to burnout.

People from emergency sectors - Long work hours, stressful environments, and no sleep often lead to being as serious as burnouts, which people from the emergency sectors face too often. From doctors and nurses to firefighters and policemen, the emergency sector is one of the most prominent sectors that are responsible for a large number of burnout victims.

Designers - A vast majority of the people from the design sector both in analog and digital sectors of design, face burnouts.

People from the business development and the sales team - The sales team or those who work in the business development sector also complain of instances of burnout. This is mainly due to the inclination of the era towards digitalization and the fast-paced drive to achieve everything digital.

Some other industries that complain of people suffering from burnouts include legal professionals, those who work in the retail sector, and more.

As the medical industry belongs to the emergency sector, it is one of the most prominent industries that has physicians and workers suffering from burnouts of a varying range of intensities.

Burnout in Medicine

If you are wondering about burnouts in medicine, then they are really common because of the kind of industry medicine is. An overwhelming 55% of the healthcare workers are reported to have suffered or are on the brink of suffering burnout episodes. This means that they are mentally and physically overburdened by the chronic stress of their workplace. Among all of these victims of burnout, young people ranging between 18 and 29 years of age suffer the most.

Physicians play a pilot role in healthcare because they are the ones who drive the course of the action and the patients are the ones who are the reason for the existence of the industry. Both patients and doctors play central roles in the industry. This means that most of the actions and episodes involve them if not somebody else.

When a patient steps into practice, a hospital, or a clinic, he/she suffers from ailments and waits for the doctor to take care of them. Now, it is the doctor who needs to understand the patient, his/her physical and mental condition, diagnose the disease, and prescribe medicines, rest, and so on. Therefore, it is the physicians upon whom the whole of the industry relies. However, as interesting as all these are, it is also true that physicians are among the most popular burnout victims. Thus, when the person who takes care of the key people, the patients, themselves become ill, its definitely a matter of concern.

Among all the burnouts reported 3 main specialties are prominent in witnessing the majority of these episodes. These are:

Urology department (54%)

Neurology department (50%)

Nephrology department (49%)

Why does Physician Burnout Occur?

It is the physicians who need to be the most active in the entire healthcare industry. A doctor need not always be physically active but as soon as the physical tasks end the mental thing starts. Dealing with patients daily, listening to them, about their life and a list of their illnesses involving their bodies and minds often lead to physician burnouts.

According to a recent survey conducted this year, over 50% of physicians experienced symptoms of burnout. Though the rates of burnouts are appallingly common in the medical industry, physician burnouts are something that is least desirable and is one of such episodes that harms the most, touching every single professional of the industry.

Physician wellness is thus, quite overlooked in the whole sector and it is one of the sole things that need to be cared for in the healthcare industry. Doctor burnouts mostly occur due to the increasing workload and too many encounters or too frequent ones with diseases of all sorts.

Physician medical burnout can be observed for a wide range of reasons. To mention some of these:

Administrative tasks to be done - Physicians are burdened not only with the checkup and the different stages of diagnosis of the patients but the administrative tasks as well in their medical office and sometimes this becomes really challenging and often leads to burnout episodes. However, the implementation of the medical office management software, patient management systems, and the rest from GrowPractice would certainly bring in a reduction of such episodes when the patients wellness is at stake.

Missing time with the patients - Though the patients are central to the job role of the doctors they sometimes get to spend lesser time with the patients, which makes it hard for them to cope with the industry

Working long hours - Doctors often need to stretch without any prior notice simply because patients are pouring in or there is an emergency. All of this accumulated to stand as burnouts.

An increasing list of the patient demands - As the demands of the patients from their physicians are increasing it is obvious that the same is putting a considerable amount of pressure on the doctors.

Overall Reputation or the patient experience - The patient experience says the final word when it comes to hospitals, nursing homes, practices, and clinics. The experience garnered by the patient is a cumulative effect of all the healthcare center or a particular practice had to offer. All the negative thoughts of negative reviews and worse feedback are things that bother the physicians and everyone else in the industry, thereby leading to burnout among physicians and physician assistant burnout episodes. However, a great deal of them can be sorted out simply by adapting the cutting-edge patient management software and medical office management software and tools that GrowPractice brings your way. Besides, GrowPractice also arranges for a wide range of effective tools that will help the patients book their appointments, cancel them,reschedule them, do online check-ins, embrace customized workflow, fill online surveys about the service, and more.

Among the major losses that burnout can result in for the practice, a loss in the overall revenues that each episode of burnout brings in is quite obvious and dismal too. According to a United States report, physician burnouts in the United States could cost up to $17 billion annually.

Preventing Physician Burnout with Easy and Effective Doctor Burnout Prevention

If you are one of the doctors who have to manage a practice by himself/herself or a practice manager, worried about the dropping revenues or the slackening of the patients, then dont worry because here we are with some effective steps that will help you to stop physician burnouts. So, dive into them without much further ado:

Beginning the day slowly but steadily

A relaxed start to a day always helps to keep a physicians mind fresh and bubbly. This also helps them reduce stress and doctor burnouts.

Rest is important

Rest for a significant amount of time is important for the physicians as it is for the patients who are prescribed for the same.

Healthy food habits are mandatory

Taking healthy food at a proper interval helps a person to stay fit and healthy without saying. The same goes for the doctors/physicians as well.

Dont overburden

Overburdening yourself if you are a doctor is nothing less than being reckless. Taking too much pressure also tends to emerge as burnout. Therefore, set your own goals that are realistic and achieve them.

Keep aside technology at times

Technology, which includes our pagers, mobiles, tablets, computers, laptops sometimes become the main reason for stress and burnout among physicians.

Vacations are great

If your occupational stress has been unprecedentedly huge, bearing which has been a difficult task, then you would simply need to unwind after a long and tiring week or perhaps a month. Going for a vacation in such a circumstance seems like the best thing you can do. Traveling will wipe out all the stresses and prevent burnout if any such thing has started to settle down on you.

Embrace technology while at work

Technology has made our lives easier indeed. It is the advancements of technology that have significantly touched the healthcare industry as well. Choosing smart patient management software and effective medical office systems will cut the workload by half and improve the patient experience as well, along with boosting the overall practice revenues.

Some other ways to prevent physician burnouts are to let the doctor perform his/her own hobby, nurture creative inclination, take a moment off from practice, relax and recall the best experiences in their professional career, and more. All of these will help in restricting burnouts and will massively help in physician burnout treatment as well.

Care for physician wellness with GrowPractice!

GrowPractice is one of the leading manufacturers of cutting-edge medical office software that helps in:

Multiplying patient appointments

Reducing no shows

Boosting the overall efficiency of the medical office.

Improving patient experience.

Removing payment-related worries

Boosting patient retention

Expanding revenues

Witnessing the growth that most physicians/practices envy and more.

Physician wellness will no longer be a myth with GrowPractice. So, try us now for the sake of your practice and the physicians practicing.