Professional Burnout

There has been a lot in the media in the past year on physician burnout and how this affects care. This is a real problem, and as medical providers are squeezed, at some point it will start to take a toll on the standard of care that a patient can expect. As we work to reform health care, I think it’s important to reform care for both the patient and the provider so that those of us who dedicate ourselves to the care of others can continue to do so for the long term, without compromising our ethics which absolutely cannot happen.

Here is a New York Times article that very clearly describes the way that providers have been required to do more and more documentation, insurance company interactions, etc while not being allotted more time to do these things or paid for their time. Food for thought.