When Burnout Affects Healthcare Physicians And Its Effect On Working Mothers

HealthLeaders Media reported that nearly half of physicians nationwide are experiencing burnout symptoms, and a study published in October found burnout increases the odds of physician involvement in patient safety incidents, unprofessionalism, and lower patient satisfaction. Burnout has also been linked to negative financial effects on physician practices and other healthcare organizations.



What’s Causing Physician Burnout

Physicians face the dilemma of serving two masters: the health care delivery system and the patient. The operational and financial demands placed on physicians from the healthcare providers means that physicians have less time with patients, but that also doesn’t allow them time to focus on or improve patient health outcomes.

Physicians Want To Help

“Primary care physicians, who once were expected to see around 16 patients a day, are now in the 20-a-day range,” according to Jake McKeegan, MD, Medical Office Chief at Colorado Permanente Group in Denver. Physicians say having more time would improve their perspective of the patient experience. And when asked in a national survey from the University of Utah Health if it would be worth it for providers to have more time with fewer patients—even if it means a reduction in revenue or income—72% of clinicians agreed.


But Must Avoid Harming The Patient Experience

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 created a hospital reward system that focuses on quality of care and maintenance of high levels of patient satisfaction. As a result, one of the changes made to Medicare involves linking part of hospital pay to patient satisfaction. As part of a bigger initiative called the Partnership for Patients, this focus on the quality of care affects how hospitals are paid for Medicare patients. Hospitals are forced to improve their service to patients or risk losing Medicare money.

The business side of health is taking greater priority over patient experience, and both physicians and patients are paying for it. Physicians are experiencing added pressure and burnout, and patients are underserved due to the time crunch, not feeling like they're being heard and spending less time with their doctor.


The Effect On Maternal Healthcare

In the current environment, there’s a greater chance for the mental health problems of working moms to go undiagnosed by physicians. These women are spending less time with their doctors, and mental health problems are often undiagnosed because many of its core features (such as fatigue and poor sleep) are also commonly associated with work/life-balance itself and part of the gender stereotype of what motherhood should include. These symptoms and signs are not trivial conditions.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 135 million women give birth every year, and worldwide about 10% of pregnant women and 13% of women who have just given birth experience a mental disorder, primarily depression. In severe cases, mothers’ suffering might be so severe that they may even commit suicide. Also, affected mothers cannot function properly. Not only does this affect women returning to the workforce as mothers, but as a result, the children’s growth and development may be negatively affected as well.

When you consider working moms do more of the intellectual, mental and emotional work at home, maintaining a healthy balance of professional and personal responsibilities might be one of the biggest health challenges these moms face. There are nearly 25 million working moms in the workforce, approximately 70% of mothers with children under 18 participate in the labor force (with over 75% employed full-time), and 40% of those working mothers are the sole or primary breadwinners for their family.

Maternal mental disorders are treatable, and effective interventions can be delivered by health providers. But unfortunately (and all too often), non-specialized health providers, non-profit organizations—and in some instances, employers—must help mothers identify and manage their mental health.

What Can Be Done

Working moms are spending less time with their physician during medical visits, but it’s not always the physician’s fault. In thinking of the physician’s challenge with burnout and serving two masters, Mari Ransco, Director of Patient Experience and Value Engagement at the University of Utah Health, provides food for thought. “Fundamentally, when we think about patient experience, the question is, how can we remove barriers and create an environment for clinicians to better know and understand their patients? Clinicians and clinical leaders have interesting work ahead.”

In other instances, working moms must fight to be heard by their physician. The intellectual, mental, and emotional challenges of mothers shouldn’t be ignored. Recent research published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that, on average, clinicians listen to patients for 11 seconds before interrupting them. Physician burnout is affecting the quality of care working mothers receive. However, it is unacceptable for any woman to allow it to interfere with their mental health.

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