Mayo Clinic CEO says fire your doctor if you suspect physician burnout - during PBS interview

By Dike Drummond MD, CEO TheHappyMD.com

Dr. John Noseworthy MD, CEO of the Mayo Clinic, said patients should actually fire their doctor if they suspect physician burnout during a recent TV interview on WTTW in Chicago.

This is a first on two levels

This is the first time I have ever heard a major American healthcare executive asked this obvious question ...
AND
... the first time I have ever heard a CEO answer it.

Not only that, Dr. Noseworthy is a physician and the boss of the massive and well respected Mayo Clinic no less. (full disclosure; I graduated from Mayo Medical School in 1984)

Here's the bind

Mayo measured its internal physician burnout rate two years ago and it is 40%. Here is the article link. The physician burnout rate is the first statistic quoted in the body of this research report even though they fail to mention it in the abstract. Grab the full PDF and you will see that 3896 Mayo Clinic doctors were surveyed and 40% admitted to at least one symptom of physician burnout.

Hmmm ... Is Dr. Noseworthy saying ... that patients should be able to diagnose physician burnout and then figure out a way to dismiss their doctor ... an act that could result in up to 40% of the Mayo Clinic physician workforce being sidelined on any given office day? 

This is a can of worms indeed!

The full interview exchange is in the video at the base of this blog post. Here is my transcript of the interchange:

Sometimes, when you are feeling down about the stresses of modern medicine, it can be a small comfort to remember how far we have come as a profession

From the four humors and leeches to the "magic" we are sometimes able to perform on behalf of our patients. Here is a blast from the past for sure. 

Watch the short video below for a tour of one of the first anatomy dissection teaching theaters, build in 1637 - the TEATRO ANATOMICO

The carved, wooden ampitheater is on the campus of the oldest continously operating university in the world - the University of Bologna, in Bologna, Italy.

The "Spilatti", wooden statues of skinless men, adorn the "pulpit" where the instructor lectured as the dissection progressed. Galen and Hippocrates watch over the students from the walls and Apollo hangs from the ceiling. And you won't believe the walls of the lecture halls or the size of the stacks of literally ANCIENT texts. 

One of the most overlooked components of your strategy to prevent physician burnout is to make sure you take regular long vacations - two weeks every other year at a minimum. A previous blog post shows you a foolproof method to get your vacations scheduled and implemented. 

We also recommend you shoot for your bucket list whenever you can, to get the most of your time away from your practice.

Here is one of Sherri and my bucket list items for sure. Come along with us on a sunset ride down the Grand Canal in Venice on the #1 vaporetto from Piazza Roma to St. Marks Square. 

--- make sure to grab your favorite beverage and display this full screen ---

Sit back, relax and enjoy ... then get busy planning YOUR next vacation.

Physician Burnout and The problem with complaining about the system - By Seth Godin

Physician Burnout and Vacation
– 3 Power Tools

In this post you will learn

1. Why regular vacations are essential to prevent physician burnout (and to the quality of your love life!)
2. Power tools to ensure you take a big one – at least two weeks - at least every other year
3. How to build and maintain your boundaries while you are away
4. A simple method to avoid Einstein’s Insanity Trap when you return home

===========

Of course Physician Burnout is a Public Health Crisis !!

And it is WAY beyond time for our Manhattan Project.

A recent video post on Medscape by Art Caplan PhD from the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center calls out Physician Burnout as a public health crisis. The 426 comments on the post attest to the chord this struck with physicians across the country. 

I totally agree ...

• If HIV is a public health issue
• If lead poisoning is a public health issue
• If infant car seats are a public health issue

Then physician burnout should be recognized as a public health issue - a true public health crisis - in any setting where physicians take care of patients.

Here's why ...

Preventing Physician Burnout – Current  Best Practices

In our work with the C-suite of healthcare organizations across the country, one question comes up consistently after our initial training delivery: “What can we do as an organization to take better care of our people?” It is the core question of an administrator that understands the Quadruple Aim.

Unfortunately these same leaders are often trapped in a subtle form of magic thinking. They hope my answer will provide them with a solution to the problem of burnout. That is never going to happen for one simple reason …

Burnout is not a problem. There is no solution.

This does not mean burnout cannot be addressed or that there is no way to take better care of the providers and staff.

The first step in the process is to call burnout by its true name.

Physician burnout, Einstein's lesson #2 and 30 minutes that can  change your life

We all know Einstein's famous definition of insanity:

"Doing the same thing over and over
and expecting a different result."

The Insanity Definition is LESSON ONE in preventing physician burnout. 

Not only is that obviously crazy, it is one of the core causes of physician burnout. When the going gets tough, our workaholic programming only gives us one coping mechanism - work harder. So that's what we do until we can't keep going any longer.

Einstein's Lesson #2 is the escape hatch on the insanity trap

Here it is:

"No problem can be solved
at the same level of consciousness
that created it"

Here's how this saying applies to a practicing physician

The Quadruple Aim Mission Statement Challenge

Is your organization focused on the Triple Aim or the new Quadruple Aim ... and what impact can you expect on your quality of life?

This 30 second peek at your Mission Statement will show you just how much your organization understands burnout ... and cares about you ... and what you can do about it.

When healthcare quality measures fail us all 

Now that we are in the age of Pay For Performance ( P4P ) we are only beginning to learn how difficult it is to achieve the twin towers of 

• Patient Satisfaction
• Quality Care

Patient satisfaction is a very controversial subject - with the counterintuitive "percent of top" as our measuring stick and the universal acknowledgement that patient demands should not always be honored carte blanche. ( "I need my #90 Rx of Oxy for my fibro, Doc. The pain is awful." )

Can we at least be clear on the definition of Quality?

You would think we could find more solid ground with respect to how to measure quality. But NO! Here comes a study showing just how hard it is to define and incentivize quality care.

I can assure you that situations where you follow a care protocol to the letter, the patient has a bad outcome and you are penalized despite deploying the "best practice" only add to the stress that drives the epidemic of physician burnout.

Full details below ... on a best practice protocol and quality incentive that failed everyone involved
... especially the patient

================

The evolution of DVT as an
"every once in a while is OK" event