Our latest survey shows how COVID affected our profession and what you want changed.
The COVID-19 pandemic did not create the current cracks in our health care system, it simply made them wider and deeper and exposed them for all to see. Physician burnout is not a new concept and the burnout percentages across the nation have signaled trouble for decades.
It was in response to the burnout experienced by our local physicians that SSVMS started the Joy of Medicine program in 2017. Since then, we have conducted three region-wide surveys to measure our local physician burnout levels, made recommendations and shared best practices with all local medical groups, provided over 1,300 free counseling sessions to physicians in the region, and hosted nearly 150 facilitated physician peer groups.
Our third physician burnout survey was scheduled for fall 2022 and we knew the results would not be pretty. The pandemic affected everyone’s lives whether it be drastic changes in their routines, lack of access to everyday needs, job loss, homeschooling kids, isolation from family and friends, illness, death and more. Physicians have experienced these traumas plus many others unique to your profession. When the pandemic started you were heroes. As the pandemic dragged on, your capes were ripped off and many of you found yourselves in the role of adversary with your patients, friends and even some family members.
As a physician advocate and friend to many of you, your stories throughout the last couple years have been heart-wrenching, infuriating, and frankly, motivating us to figure out how to change the public narrative.
Our newest white paper, “Joy of Medicine: Physician Wellness and Workforce,” provides the data that backs up your stories. Nationwide, the AMA recently reported that 63% of physicians were experiencing burnout. Locally, our physician burnout numbers were significantly less at 44%. Despite the smaller percentage of burnout, we are not proud of this result. Our Medical Society and leaders from all medical groups recognize that more can and should be done to eliminate the burnout that many of you are experiencing.
While Joy of Medicine happily provides free counseling to all physicians in our region, regardless of membership with the medical society, we recognize that improvements in your organization and practice of medicine will provide you with the happiness and fulfillment that you need and deserve. In this vein, we asked participants to rate their satisfaction in seven key areas: organizational culture, compensation, workload, social support, efficiency, work-life integration and flexibility. Physicians across the board agree that your organizational culture is great, but every other category needs significant improvement.
All seven categories of engagement declined by 7% to 14% compared to 2020. Only one category, Organizational Culture and Values, scored positively (70%+) in 2022, compared to three positive categories in 2020.
We also asked you how your organizations can improve the EHR and what they can do to increase your work-life integration satisfaction. An overwhelming number of you asked for in-person scribes, fewer work hours and more physician colleagues to share the workload. This is unsurprising in the aftermath of COVID as many of your colleagues have retired early or left medicine altogether for another career.
Many of the stories you shared with us over the last two-plus years convinced us to add a new section to the survey: “Mistreatment and Violence Against Physicians.” These results were sobering, with nearly 40% of respondents reporting experiencing some form of mistreatment, mostly from patients. We are collecting more stories on this for an upcoming issue of SSV Medicine. Our goals are to share your stories with leadership across our region, create and encourage adoption of a regionwide policy focused on preventing violence against physicians, to promote legislation to protect physicians, and finally, to educate physicians to recognize and address mistreatment (micro-aggressions add up and are sometimes not easy to recognize or address with patients). If you have a story you would like to share, drop me an email at LCoate@ssvms.org.
The results are in and there are many things your Medical Society and your medical groups can do to improve your professional lives. Retention of the current physician workforce is critical. To facilitate physician work-life integration, SSVMS recommends that medical groups, physician organizations and health systems adopt the following recommendations:
Increase the current physician workforce and provide the option for shorter or more flexible work hours.
Adopt a regionwide policy to address mistreatment and violence against physicians, regardless of the source, and ensure that systems are in place to ensure that physicians are treated with respect and dignity.
Prioritize the improvement of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) to make it more efficient and user-friendly by providing in-person scribes, where clinically indicated, and improving the user interface. Both the 2019 and 2021 reports both made this suggestion, and it continues to be a significant source of frustration for physicians.
Promote physician access to wellness resources including mental health services and peer engagement activities such as those offered through the SSVMS Joy of Medicine Program.
To read the full report, visit https://tinyurl.com/JOMWhitepaper2023.
Lindsay Coate is vice president of strategic operations at SSVMS.
