Physician Well-Being Guiding Principles
Effective Patient Care Promotes and Requires Physician Well-being
The ability to stay connected to their calling in medicine is likely a core factor in keeping physicians at the top of their game. The majority of them went into the profession with the fundamental motivation of helping to serve people. However, over the past decade or more, physicians are increasingly treated like widgets in a big healthcare machine that can just be swapped out if they fail or don't perform well. Plenty of studies show that when physicians are burnt out, medical errors go up and patient satisfaction goes down. Helping physicians recover their sense of humanity in their work will increase the overall value and delivery of care to the patient.
Physician Well-being is Related with the Well-being of All Members of the Health Care Team
The patient centered model of healthcare involves a dynamic blend of relationships from various professionals. If distress is rightfully offloaded from physicians, it can not be wrongfully loaded onto the backs of others. A less burnt-out physician with a more burnt-out medical assistant does not help. When the water level of wellness raises for everybody on the team, both patients and physicians are better off.
Physician Well-being is a Quality Marker
There is a reason that some professional athletic teams require all their players to go to counseling: they want to optimize the performance of their most valuable team members. A physician's education and licensure sets them behind the-buck-stops-here sign for patient care in most healthcare settings. Employers and systems who prioritize the measurement of physician well-being alongside other performance indicators and find ways to systematically improve it are likely to enhance overall organizational goals.
Physician Well-Being is a Shared Responsibility
The amount of employee duress in healthcare requires an all-hands-on-deck call to action: physicians, healthcare team members, administrators, policy makers, regulators, and educators. Because of the epidemic's complexity, there is not a single intervention that will help mitigate physician burnout and distress. Instead a variety of interventions and efforts are needed: safety-nets for distressed physicians, individual resiliency, policies that promote well-being, leadership that can safely navigate their organizations through rapidly evolving times, and those who would help reshape the culture of medicine from medical school upward. With these efforts by all, we can hope for a time when the intrinsic value of everybody involved in healthcare is held in the highest esteem and patients reap the benefits.
The ability to stay connected to their calling in medicine is likely a core factor in keeping physicians at the top of their game. The majority of them went into the profession with the fundamental motivation of helping to serve people. However, over the past decade or more, physicians are increasingly treated like widgets in a big healthcare machine that can just be swapped out if they fail or don't perform well. Plenty of studies show that when physicians are burnt out, medical errors go up and patient satisfaction goes down. Helping physicians recover their sense of humanity in their work will increase the overall value and delivery of care to the patient.
Physician Well-being is Related with the Well-being of All Members of the Health Care Team
The patient centered model of healthcare involves a dynamic blend of relationships from various professionals. If distress is rightfully offloaded from physicians, it can not be wrongfully loaded onto the backs of others. A less burnt-out physician with a more burnt-out medical assistant does not help. When the water level of wellness raises for everybody on the team, both patients and physicians are better off.
Physician Well-being is a Quality Marker
There is a reason that some professional athletic teams require all their players to go to counseling: they want to optimize the performance of their most valuable team members. A physician's education and licensure sets them behind the-buck-stops-here sign for patient care in most healthcare settings. Employers and systems who prioritize the measurement of physician well-being alongside other performance indicators and find ways to systematically improve it are likely to enhance overall organizational goals.
Physician Well-Being is a Shared Responsibility
The amount of employee duress in healthcare requires an all-hands-on-deck call to action: physicians, healthcare team members, administrators, policy makers, regulators, and educators. Because of the epidemic's complexity, there is not a single intervention that will help mitigate physician burnout and distress. Instead a variety of interventions and efforts are needed: safety-nets for distressed physicians, individual resiliency, policies that promote well-being, leadership that can safely navigate their organizations through rapidly evolving times, and those who would help reshape the culture of medicine from medical school upward. With these efforts by all, we can hope for a time when the intrinsic value of everybody involved in healthcare is held in the highest esteem and patients reap the benefits.