Tackle Physician Burnout with Proactive Solutions

Physician burnout is a hot topic, but effective solutions have been more elusive. In March 2017, 10 CEOs of the nation’s most prominent health systems examined physician burnout, proposing an 11-item call to action (Health Affairs).

In a new article, Susan Emerson, senior vice president of strategic planning and business development at Private Health News/MedNews Plus shares a structured approach to physician well-being implemented at Stamford Health in Connecticut that has had measurable results.

“Stamford is a Planetree-designated facility with an emphasis on care for the caregiver,” says Sharon C. Kiely, MD, senior vice president, medical affairs, and chief medical officer at Stamford Health. “Despite that, and despite our high physician engagement and satisfaction scores, we still had colleagues in crisis.”

Sharon C. Kiely, MD, senior vice president, medical affairs, and chief medical officer at Stamford Health

“One example that really hit home was when a medical staff member of 30 years told me he had never felt so isolated from the medical staff as during a recent, severe medical illness. So we undertook a journey to learn how to do this better.”

A statutory change in Connecticut in 2015 heightened the need to better support physicians. The new law mandated the reporting of individuals and organizations who understood or came to believe that a physician was unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill or safety due to chemical dependency, emotional or behavioral disorder, or physical or mental illness.

When Kiely came on board in 2011, she conducted a physician satisfaction survey and found Stamford Health was at the 11^th percentile. It is now at the 98^th percentile nationwide.

Learn what Kiely did to achieve this dramatic turnaround, and how a strong internal communications program solidified the gains.

Read the article now: Physician Well-Being — Moving from Whispers in the Hallway to Support

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President