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

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

Physician Burnout Rates Top 50% in latest Mayo Study - and that is not the worst of it

For a while now I have been suspicious that physician burnout rates are increasing here in the USA, especially in the last five years or so. I have been waiting for the research to catch up with my suspicions for a while now. Here is the smoking gun.

Mayo Clinic Proceedings this month published results of round two of their survey of burnout in physicians compared to burnout in the "normal population". The last round in 2011 was major news across the country and the first study that compared physician burnout rates to those of non-physician workers.

The burnout rates are what I expected. The shocker is the number of physicians screening positive for depression and suicidal ideation that no one is reporting on.

The headline trends are these

• From 2011 to 2014 physician burnout rates increased
• AND the gap between physician burnout rates and burnout rates in the normal population widened

The headline stats are these 

Physician Burnout - EMR Shaming Has to STOP

Every time I survey a group of physicians asking, "What are the top three stressors in your practice day?" ... EMR and other documentation issues ALWAYS make the list. This is true regardless of specialty without exception. 

EMR is a slave to Big Data, designed by people who have never seen a patient and it is a huge cause of physician burnout in a significant number of doctors.

AND we can do a MUCH better job of helping our physicians clear the EMR hurdle in their day if we STOP SHAMING the people who struggle the most.

Here is a common practice scenario for a burned out physician who comes to us for coaching.

The Most Interesting Man in the world speaks ICD-10

Here in the week after implementation of ICD-10 is what the most interesting man in the world has to say ...

In our work with thousands of doctors we have created, tested and refined many tools to reverse the downward spiral of physician burnout. In this article we will show you our Top Three Tools to build the life balance you are craving.

1. The Schedule HACK
2. Bucket List Secrets
3. Quick NO, Slow YES

Before we begin it is essential you understand first that Physician Burnout is NOT a Problem

It is a DILEMMA of the highest order requiring a coordinated STRATEGY to address your specific matrix of stress sources. Your strategy is a group of 3 - 5 tools you hand select from the four parts of the burnout prevention MATRIX.

De-stressing your Practice is Step One

Once you learn how to get home sooner, you can move to Step Two:

In this article we will demonstrate why the epidemic of physician burnout is the single largest negative influence on your organization’s culture, performance and profitability.

We will then show you a promising four part intervention that can lower burnout rates and create a culture of support and engagement.

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The Quadruple Aim Blueprint White Paper Download
Four Steps to System-Wide Burnout Prevention
Download your Free Copy Now
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The prevalence of physician burnout

The prevalence of physician burnout has been exhaustively studied in all major specialties and in most first world nations over the last three decades. Here is a telling quote from one of the key researchers:

Body Scan Guided Imagery - listen or download

One of the challenges for physicians when we are off work ... is to turn the Doctor completely off ... let it all go and come all the way home.

Really, how often do you find yourself physically at home yet your mind is still fighting the demons in your practice - labs, paperwork, patients, production ... ?

When that happens you can't begin to recharge. Your worries are still draining you despite the fact that the office or hospital is miles away.

What would it be like to relax completely like this baby or this bulldog - really let it all go? When you come all the way home, leaving thoughts of work at work, only then can you begin to make deposits in your energy accounts.

Guided Imagery is a great way to unplug completely

The Body Scan is a virtual whole body massage - listen or download this MP3 below

Prevent Physician Burnout with our five-part EMR & Documentation Strategy - Video Training

Any time you survey physicians on the workplace stresses that are causing physician burnout - EMR / EHR and documentation chores (Patient Portal, InBox/Basket) will be listed as one of the top three stressors. This happens for obvious reasons.

 

1) You were taught to diagnose and treat disease and take care of patients - not hunt and peck at a keyboard. You were never meant to be a master of data entry and fancy keystrokes, but somehow this has become a critically important aspect of your job. 

2) You think EMR is a Problem. It is not. It is another example of a Dilemma. Watch this video first to understand this fundamental distinction.

What you need is a Strategy to deal with your own personal EMR and Documentation challenges.

Watch the following video for our five-part EMR Strategy.

Implement any one of these this week and you will be getting home sooner before the weekend.

 

 

 

 

Physician Burnout is NOT a Problem - Video Training

Burnout is Not A Problem
That means there Is No Solution

This is the fundamental reason burnout appears to be insoluble / unfixable / you just can't make it go away. 

Understanding the difference between:

• a PROBLEM and a DILEMMA
• a SOLUTION and a STRATEGY

is key to you preventing burnout for you and your people

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Learn All About our 3-Layer Physician Support Ecosystem
Burnout Proof MD
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Watch this video to learn how to deal with a Dilemma - so you can stop the magical thinking that physician burnout can be solved in a single step.

 

 

The Relationship Between Physician Burnout, Stress and Performance - Video Training

In the Burnout Proof Live Training I always field the question, "Isn't stress a good thing too?". Here's the answer ...

It depends

Stress can motivate or destroy performance. It can drive a physician to do the best for their patients becoming the personification of the Hippocratic Oath ... or leave them curled on the floor in the fetal position too burned out to take another step. It does all of these things depending on where you are on the Stress vs. Performance Curve.