Physician burnout is at an all-time high. While some specializations suffer more often than others, burnout is on the rise across all demographics. Doctors who are experiencing burnout are more likely to experience mental health emergencies and make more mistakes, and the risk of suicide is significantly higher.
Fortunately, burnout can be fixed if it's addressed properly, and we're going to look at the 3 most prominent causes of physician burnout. Once you've identified stressful forces in your life, you can better gauge how much they're affecting you. Identifying and mitigating stress can prevent burnout and help you regain work/life balance and begin to enjoy your work again.
3 Primary Causes of Physician Burnout
While stress affects all of us, when stress builds over time and isn't addressed, it can lead to being overwhelmed. This creates a situation in which you're unable to get respite at home or work, and it can feel like life is closing in on you. For doctors, too much work can be crushing, but it doesn't have to be. Use this information to identify points of overwhelm in your life.
1. Too much time spent on non-care giving tasks
58% of physicians state that doing administrative work is a huge source of stress and eventual burnout. When you don't have enough employees or don't trust them to complete tasks, you end up taking it all on yourself. This is a huge cause of stress—you're a doctor to help patients, not to do billing and filing.
You need a strategy in place to ensure that administrative tasks are handled by professionals and that they're done correctly. Adding another 20+ hours of work to your week is not a solution in any capacity. This level of overwork will lead to burnout.
Solution
The first step is to ensure your office is well-staffed with competent employees you can trust to do the job correctly. After that, you can start by employing a system that makes administrative tasks automated and easy ensures that everything runs smoothly. ViTel can help with staffing and with workflow to ensure billing, patient intake, and records retention is all done seamlessly.
2. Spending too many hours at work
Even if you're not doing administrative work, many physicians are simply at the office too late each day. Between the increase in chronic care patients, an overall aging population, and the COVID-19 pandemic, you're likely seeing more patients than ever. While this seems great for your finances, it can quickly tap your emotional reserves and leave you burnt out and disassociated.
Being physically in the office takes you away from your family and the rest of your life in general. We've seen over the course of the pandemic that remote work is a viable option in many fields of work, and healthcare is no different. In fact, many people now prefer interfacing with their physicians via virtual visits.
Solution
Working with a telehealth platform like ViTel gives you the flexibility to see patients remotely when you can. Virtual visits are great for your patients, and they allow you to have more flexibility. ViTel's platform also will help you prevent overbooking, which is another source of burnout.
You can even refer patients within our network if need be, and we can help you hire another physician for your practice when things are overwhelming. With our state-of-the-art physician credentialing system, you can count on fast verifications for any doctor you're wanting to bring on board.
3. Lack of autonomy
Many doctors report that lack of a sense of control has created a system of burnout and stress. This can be due to not having a say in the practice where they work, or feeling trapped without other options. With a limited pool of employees and patients, many doctors with their own office can still feel like they have no control over their work-life.
Solution
Telehealth is more popular and better designed than ever before. Being able to see patients remotely—many of whom might not even live near you—can expand your practice significantly. You can improve your monetary flow, build a client base, and even start your own virtual practice.
ViTel can help you staff, supply, and run your own virtual healthcare practice, even if you don't have a brick-and-mortar office. Telehealth can be your ticket to freedom.
Avoid Burnout & Build a Better Practice
Partnering with a telehealth platform can ensure that every single aspect of your practice runs smoothly. ViTel can help with staffing, medical supplies, referrals, patient intake, billing, and credentialing. Additionally, our robust network of physicians means better response time for your patients, cutting down on referral waits or therapy visits.
When your office runs smoothly, you can focus on the medicine, which is better for you and your patients. Contact ViTel today and let us demonstrate the difference a powerful telehealth platform can make in your life.
