Medical literature is increasingly showing healthcare clinicians are suffering from undue stress and burn-out of their profession. In fact, some of the statistics for nurses’ suicide rates are alarming. Nurse.org reports, “nurses are 23% more likely to commit suicide than women in general.”
And the BBC News reports, “Doctors are twice as likely to kill themselves compared with people working in other professions.” Working in medicine has always been stressful – so, what and why the change now.
The Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is one frequently sited culprit for the stressful healthcare environment. As one doctor stated, and reported in the New Yorker, “The system that promised to increase my mastery over my work has, instead, increased my work's mastery over me.” The system – that works well for other industries – has brought extra hours of system work leaving physicians with high burnout rates and some leaving the profession.
Shortly after healthcare started with computerized health records and the issues were discovered, the problem was identified: “we tried putting the paper record in the computer when a computer record was needed.” In other words, we duplicated our paper forms in a computerized system when, we needed a disrupter – like the iPhone disrupted phone communications. But, back to the current EMR.
In addition to the technological challenges for physicians and nurses, is the ever-changing payer saga with the federal government leading the disruptions. The government requirements and mandates change yearly – or more frequently – requiring clinicians to “chart for the mandate” (in order to get paid) rather than “chart the patient’s medical condition.” The continuous uncertainty of payment for clinicians’ services adds to stress levels.
Improvements and enhancements to the EMR are ongoing and take many avenues, which is a long journey for doctors and nurses to find stress relief from the system or the government. To help doctors and nurses find stress relief and regain their dignity for medicine, the solution must take place at the local practice level – at the hospital, clinics and offices. And, without the clinicians having the added burden of cost.
Tangible support must be provided with formal training and leadership and wellness programs, as well as, individual and group therapy support sessions lead by professionals who have the acumen to lead and provide the therapy.
One action that can provide immediate relief and help to reduce stress is – provide time for physicians and nurses to have an uninterrupted break and time to relax during their shift. This is especially applicable for nurses, who often do not have the opportunity to leave their work station depending on patient work load. And, we must remember that staff work 24 – 7. The same measures must be available and provided to staff on all schedules.
BBC News. 2000. 'Suicide risk' for doctors and nurses.
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