HARTFORD, CT – A recent study conducted by the Society of Hospital Administration concluded that the most effective way to cure physician burnout is to see more patients and put in more hours. “We discovered that home life, particularly family, interfered with work the most,” stated hospital administrator Carl Waters. “If physicians would put in more hours here at the hospital and/or have a larger patient load, they would be cured within days of their burnout.”
Physician burnout is a common complaint of physicians who try to balance a high-demanding, high-stress job with other aspects of their life. Most already put in 60-100 hours a week. “The key word here is juggling: physicians are juggling way too many things, being a mom, husband, vacations, or whatever. Eliminate those distractions and focus on what is important.”
“We noticed that Mondays are the worst for burnout,” Carl Waters continued. “This is magnified after a long weekend that the provider was off or a holiday weekend.”
“This a marathon, do marathoners just stop running? No. They train and train and train. If they skip a few days their legs will hurt. Same goes with medicine.”
Mr. Waters also suggested that physicians should be held responsible for not only their patients’ well-being but other aspects of the hospital. “We also believe more responsibilities are needed. Are the supplies ordered, did the instruments get cleaned, are the hospital bills being paid correctly, stuff like that.” When it was pointed out that these responsibilities were currently being handled by administration, and when physicians take over these rolls what administration would do, he responded: “We’ll will have oversight on these physicians, in fact I sent an email to Dr. Bellows about the 3rd floor men’s room being out of paper towels.”
One physician questioned the new guidelines but was quickly put in her place. “Didn’t you agree to the Hippocratic Oath? Aren’t you here to help people? Then get back in there.” They clearly can’t handle both, home life and work life, and therefore you need to cut one out of the equation. And do they think they would actually leave medicine?
