There are more demands than ever on healthcare workers today. Yet according to researchers at the Mayo Clinic Program on Physician Well-Being, the healthcare system that is supposed to be the solution is the root of many of the problems. The additional burden of dealing with the effects of these demands often falls onto the shoulders of the very workers struggling within the system.1 This cycle of demands and increased expectations can be exhausting, and at its worst, exploitative.
An excellent doctors-eye-view of this problem comes from Dr. Danielle Ofri, who practices at Bellevue Hospital, New York. Her opinion piece was published yesterday in the New York Times. Dr. Ofri says that the work ethic of doctors and nurses is about all that is holding our health care system together; and there is a danger that they are being squeezed too much. According to her, “This status quo is not sustainable — not for medical professionals and not for our patients.”2
Read her entire opinion piece here: https://nyti.ms/31ma6Qz, or visit her website: https://danielleofri.com/.
To combat this cycle, the American College of Physicians has developed some interventions intended to help reduce burnout and improve physician well-being, in part based on research from the Mayo Clinic.3,4 Other resources, like the American Medical Association’s “Steps Forward” exist.
Read Dr. Ofri’s piece and tell me, what do you think we should be doing here?
4 S, Kabcenell A, Shanafelt T, Clinic M. Physician-Organization Collaboration Reduces Physician Burnout and Promotes Engagement: The Mayo Clinic Experience. J Healthc Manag. 2016;61(2):105-127. PMID: 27111930. https://www.aan.com/siteassets/home-page/conferences-and-community/live-well/17mayoclinicexperience_cc.pdf