The magnitude of pandemic trauma to our healthcare workers ensures a long tail of depression, PTSD, drug addiction and suicide extending well into 2022.

Now is the time to build the systems to cope with this delayed impact wave of COVID-19. We are not out of the woods when we reach herd immunity. It is only after the coast is clear that the psychiatric complications manifest in our physicians and staff.

Are recent decreases in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths just the eye of the pandemic hurricane or can we really see the end of this long, dark tunnel?

We are in a race with the virus' natural ability to mutate. Is this recent lull in the action a sign the end is near or just a brief respite and the worst is yet to come?

The majority of physician burnout or engagement surveys make things worse for your employed physicians.

It is a classic leadership example of good intentions gone horribly wrong.

If you fall into one or more of the six survey fails below, it is possible that your survey will make burnout worse by demonstrating just how clueless the senior leaders are about conditions in the front lines.

In this blog post, let me show you the six most common survey fails - gathered from our experience working with over 175 organizations to date. Unfortunately, many  leadership teams fall into a fail cascade with their efforts qualifying for more than one of the examples below. Before we dive in, know that surveys can be powerful adjuncts to an effective physician wellness program when used correctly. Contact us to learn how. 

After COVID-19 is gone, what do you want your medical practice to look and feel like?

As I type this blog post it is 2/21/2021. For the first time in months, the infection, hospitalization and death rates of the coronavirus are in a free fall. We are vaccinating 1.6M people a day in the USA. Barring a variant wave in the next eight weeks, many of us can see an end to all of this, perhaps even before we wrap up the calendar year.

Now is the time to start planting the seeds of your post-pandemic medical practice. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebalance and de-stress your practice. There is a potential window of flexibility opening now that will last only a matter of months. How do you bridge the gap between what you have and what you really want?

The key is asking different questions and the time to get started is now.

Will the 2021 revised E & M codes restore some value to the intellectual side of patient management?

That question is open for now.

What does need to happen immediately is a change in your old coding habits. 

When you stop the old cut and paste of physical exam findings and learn how to use Risk and Decision Making properly - a Level IV visit will most likely become your new normal and Level V much simpler to justify. 

Learn Much More in our latest Physicians on Purpose Podcast:

POP Podcast 13:
2021 Evaluation and Management (E&M) Codes with Paul DeChant MD

Do not let down your guard or relax coronavirus precautions now: Two Additional Reasons Why.

There is a glimmer of relaxing and relief going on these days. I had a few happy tears with my first shot of the Moderna vaccine. It would not surprise me if you did too. 

You may feel like you can see a light at the end of the tunnel, that we are finally nearing the end of the pandemic. 

I don't want to harsh your mellow or be a fear monger here ... AND this appears to be a logistically clear time to keep your guard up. 

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With one of our Certified Physician Coaches
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A Sneaker Wave

Medscape's annual Physician Burnout Study is out

As usual it has a number of interesting findings and a number of things you will notice don't change from year to year ... like burnout rates from 40 - 50% unfortunately.

Let me give you the highlights and my comments in this blog post.

The full survey is behind a login at Medscape at this URL

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Get the Tools and Support to Be 
An Effective Physician Wellness Champion
Quadruple Aim Physician Leadership Retreat
Full Details at This Link
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Survey Methodology:

• Surveys filled out between August - November, 2020.
  So note the title of the Study Report is misleading. This is a 2020 survey report.
  
  
• Total of 12,339 practicing US physicians
  
  
• 10 minute online survey
  From the looks of the results it appears to have been selections from response options provided by the survey rather than typing in your answers.

Survey Highlights and Commentary:

The Quadruple Aim Physician Leadership Retreat

SAVE $500 with Early Bird Registration THIS WEEKEND

The Complete Retreat Overview Brochure is at THIS LINK

Here is the host of the White Coat Investor, Emergency Department physician Jim Dahle MD,  and I in a wide ranging PodCast conversation:

Physician leaders understand COVID-19 is a unique type of disaster.

Instead of a POINT crisis and a recovery; like a 

• Tornado / Hurricane
• Flood
• Terrorist attack

... where you get a KaBoom, an acute crisis and a recovery over days to weeks. You know, the kinds of disasters we have drills for, the ones we have code names for.

This pandemic is a series of slow tidal waves, overwhelming everything and everyone for weeks at a time as the wave hits, only to return months later and do it again. 

Sheer fatigue, exhaustion, even a sense of helplessness and hopelessness are common for you and your care team. 

All of us can rally and unite in response to an acute crisis. All hands on deck!

But how do you continue to lead and remain a high performance team for weeks and months on end when the tide of illness refuses to recede?