Your team is struggling with physician burnout. What can you do to help them?

It's also important to note the type of relationship you have with your team. If you feel disconnected from your team due to various reasons then you should source outside assistance to help advocate and bridge building with your team to assess the situation and colaborate towards a solution.

Assess it with one to one interactions and reviewing productivity which may reveal shortage of deployed physicians, rostering issues. It’s always important to do your homework well before getting to the drawing board in such situations.

Assessing the situation of physician burnout within the team involves understanding the contributing factors and the extent of its impact. This includes identifying sources of stress such as heavy workloads, administrative burdens, and inadequate support systems. Conducting surveys or holding discussions with team members can provide valuable insights into their experiences and challenges. Additionally, analysing metrics such as rates of absenteeism, turnover, and patient satisfaction can help gauge the severity of the issue. By thoroughly assessing the situation, we can develop targeted strategies to address physician burnout effectively and foster a healthier work environment for our team.

My experience has shown to deal with physician burn out is to ensure they take time off first and place a rule of no one is to contact them for anything during that period. Also emphasise a culture of trust in the office. No adult will request emergency time or ask for afternoon off when they do not need it.

Bournout betrifft in Deutschland über 8.000 Ärztinnen und Ärzte jährlich. Wenn einzelne Personen, oder ein gesamtes Team davon betroffen ist, müssen Sie als Chefarzt / Chefärztin, Geschäftsführung und Personalleitung umgehend handeln. Es leidet nicht nur das Team in der Klinik darunter, sondern auch die Patientenversorgung. Beachten Sie diese 3 Handlungsoptionen: 1. Kommunizieren Sie. Enttabuisieren Sie das Thema. Nehmen Sie den ärztlichen Kollegen die Scham. Meistens leiden Menschen darunter, die besonders viel leisten möchten. 2. Bieten Sie Unterstützungsmöglichkeiten an: Präventions-Kurse zur Entspannung, Resilienz, Stressbewältigung, oder Coaching. 3. Prüfen Sie, inwieweit eine veränderte Arbeitsorganisation Entlastung bietet.

In a previous role, our team faced physician burnout due to heavy workloads. By implementing project management tools and revising scheduling practices to include regular breaks, we saw a notable improvement. The physician benefited greatly from this change, feeling more rested and focused, leading to better patient care. This experience highlighted the importance of prioritising physician well-being and making simple adjustments to alleviate burnout.

To address physician burnout, our team focuses on promoting work-life balance, providing resources for resilience and wellness, streamlining administrative tasks, implementing team-based care models, offering flexible scheduling options, promoting peer support and mentorship, addressing organizational culture and leadership, encouraging open communication, providing professional development opportunities, and continuously monitoring progress.

I have seen in umpteen situations wherein effective trainings of physicians on productivity, patient handling, handling difficult patients, stress management can remove obstacles along the way of better and efficient patient care.

Los médicos están acostumbrados a las cargas de trabajo, sin embargo, el cansancio comienza a prevalecer cuando su esfuerzo no se ve recompensado o reconocido. Es en ese momento cuando el exceso de actividades laborales se convierten en un "peso" y consigo repercusiones de estrés laboral.

Involve your team in crafting solutions to burnout. In my experience, your staff have the most valuable insight into the daily issues that lead to burnout and, likely, they have already thought through some workable solutions. Remember, you hired these physicians because they are solution-focused, quick-thinking, diagnosticians who would improve the quality of your team. Whenever possible, let them have the floor!