Should Physicians Change Career Paths Due to COVID?
Healthcare workers that are continuing to work through this pandemic are experiencing significant burnout due to COVID-19. Especially as they are expected to take on more roles than ever before.
Over 43,000 healthcare workers have been laid off from work this year. Additionally, many healthcare facilities are dealing with bare minimal budgets as patients continue to avoid medical care because of concerns related to COVID-19 (see image below).
Even before the pandemic, physician burnout was a growing hazard for healthcare professionals, with one in three physicians experiencing physician burnout at any point in time.
Even during national health emergencies, there are reasons to continue your path as a physician.
Right now, all eyes are on health care systems.
Hospital and health care system leaders are looking for solutions to support a strained workforce and clear barriers for staff to do their jobs, optimistic that these steps will improve staff relationships and reduce turnover.
How Has COVID-19 Affected Physicians Career Perspective?
In the most recent years, the healthcare industry’s turnover rate for all jobs has risen, currently standing at 17.8%.
According to Association of American Medical Colleges, physician demand is predicted to grow faster than supply, leading to a projected total physician shortage of between 54,100 and 139,000 physicians by 2033.
This year, even as physicians dealt with increased intense challenges caring for patients during the pandemic, most physicians say they would choose medicine again.
According to a survey conducted by Medscape, 77% of survey participants say they would make the same choice to enter the healthcare industry.
Why? The very same reason they choose medicine in the first place:
- Gratitude and relationships with patients
- Finding answers and diagnoses
- Helping others and knowing that they are making the world a better place
A promising find for hospitals as they continue to work to reduce turnover. The same survey revealed that common trends for physicians changing jobs surround issues include:
- Having so many rules and regulations
- Having to work long hours
- Working with an EHR system
Physicians simply want to do what they signed up to do, provide value-based care to their patients. As healthcare physicians work on retention strategies, they should focus on solutions to allow physicians to focus on patients.
Improve Physician Retention by Using a Medical Call Center Solution
While the solution to improve a physician’s work-life balance will be a challenging situation to remedy, a medical call center solution is a great starting point.
On average, doctors are averaging 53.4-hour workweeks. Of those hours, an average of 15.6 hours are spent on paperwork and administrative duties, and that does not include the added work from the pandemic.
A startling find considering working within an EHR system is one of the most challenging factors for a physician.
A medical call center can help you free up your physician’s hours currently used for paperwork. By allowing professionals trained to quickly and efficiently handle patient intake and handle EMR systems over the phone, physicians time is used to care for their patients.
