Almost all healthcare systems around the world have been going through an extremely rough patch due to, you guessed it, the pandemic.
However, even before that, many healthcare professionals were experiencing huge workloads, long working hours, unmanageable stress, and other challenges – leading to burnout.
In fact, “physician burnout”, “clinician burnout” and “healthcare professional burnout” are quite well-known topics in the U.S. and many are working towards reducing the stress of healthcare professionals. That being said, let’s take a look at a few strategies on how to prevent burnout in healthcare professionals.
Here are 5 strategies that prevent burnout in healthcare professionals:
- Streamline existing workflow and improve collaboration
Even in this day and age, many healthcare organizations are still using obsolete software, spreadsheets, and even paperwork or binders to carry out their daily operations. Others have improved workflow and collaboration, but only in their most crucial departments – what about others, such as the maintenance management teams?
Using obsolete means to carry out operations not only slows down productivity but also hampers collaboration, can cause miscommunication, and generate burnout among team members. Imagine if the aforementioned maintenance management team is still using spreadsheets or binders to keep track of their work – it’s an absolute nightmare!
Instead, hospitals and health systems can easily streamline tasks, improve workflow, and ensure effective collaboration if they use modern and robust solutions. For instance, a CMMS for healthcare facilities can streamline maintenance management, simplify equipment repairs, and improve collaboration.
Not only does such a solution help monitor ongoing activities but it also helps employees provide updates and gather feedback easily – eliminating redundant tasks and reducing burnout in the process.
- Focus on healthcare IT
If you ask healthcare experts on how to prevent burnout in healthcare professionals, most would likely state “with technology”. It’s true – innovations in technology have been able to significantly reduce stress among healthcare professionals.
For instance, take the case of EHR systems. Before they existed, everything was analog, and registrars, nurses, and other professionals had to manually search, store, update, and use medical records. Just imagine the amount of time it would require to work with paper medical records! Fortunately, EHR systems are being used by modern healthcare providers that really help reduce burnout – storing, updating, using, and backing up EHRs are easier than ever!
There’s more to it – responsible healthcare providers use innovative solutions such as a touchless biometric patient identification platform. Not only does it enhance patient safety and ensure accurate patient identification, but it also prevents duplicate medical records and overlays – reducing denied claims in the process.
Doing so helps reduce the stress on revenue cycle team members – the backend team can focus on other tasks than identifying and rectifying billing and coding issues which can be quite hectic. Moreover, this also reduces the time required for registrars and others to identify accurate EHRs – reducing burnout among them.
- Foster an engaging and healthy corporate culture
One of the best ways to prevent burnout in healthcare professionals is by developing strong relationships among colleagues and creating an engaging workplace culture. There are many ways to approach this, one of which is by using a corporate wellness app. As many healthcare professionals are still working remotely, deploying an app that promotes employee engagement and focuses on their wellbeing makes the most sense.
Such an app provides a private network where healthcare professionals share updates with each other, encourage engagement, and make work fun. It can be used for employee recognition, celebrating birthdays, work anniversaries, and more – providing a true sense of belonging for the healthcare professionals. All of this helps create a positive environment for everyone involved – reducing burnout in the workplace.
- Encourage employees to take breaks
Employees in healthcare organizations have long working hours and a huge amount of stress. It’s quite natural that employees that don’t take breaks throughout the day are overstressed compared to those who take them. Ensure that all employees within hospitals and health systems are taking breaks regularly to catch a breather and refresh their minds.
- Encourage employees to focus on their health
One of the best ways to reduce burnout in healthcare professionals is by encouraging them to pursue habits that improve their health and overall wellbeing. Initiating health and wellness programs, creating social events, and health challenges such as distance covered can go a long way that nudges them towards a healthy lifestyle – reducing stress in the process.
By Staff Writer.
