Observing the research model and its results empasizes the importance of treating physicians’ stressors and burnout in order to prevent their dissatisfaction and turnover intentions. Subjective perception of stress and the burnout closely related to it precede the rest of the unwanted organizational results, and should therefore be addressed first. We recommend that heads of health systems treat the physicians’ objective stressors, which affect subjective perceptions of stress, which is, in turn, related to burnout. We propose two levels of treatment to reduce stress: structural and organizational.
The structural aspect should involve reduction of objective stress on physicians by changing the actual structure of health services. Hospital doctors suffer from an overload of tasks, great responsibility, and they work long hours. We believe that a considerable number of tasks that are at present performed by hospital doctors should be transferred to other medical branches. Hospital physicians would deal with life-threatening emergencies, intensive care, and complex medical procedures. Other cases, not related to infective diseases, can be supported by community clinics and home care. This would result in the development of new professions such as nurse’s assistant, who would actively perform simple, routine medical procedures that were so far performed by hospital doctors and nurses, thus freeing them for the core roles of their profession. First examples of such steps already exist and are successful. We suggest expanding them to form a general rather than specific perception change, primarily due to developing medical technologies that enable it. For instance, in the past, treatment of diabetes was performed in hospitals, whereas today family members inject sick children with insulin and supervise sugar levels by simple technological means. Other medical procedures, such as changing bandages of bedsores, could be performed by family members or caretakers after short training. The benefits of the suggested structural change could have far-reaching consequences. It could reduce hospital costs, while decreasing overload and improving service to the patients. Further- more, it could reduce physicians’ overload by eliminating routine tasks and grinding bureaucracy, which would enable a meaningful relationship with the patient, a sense of satisfaction and significance among doctors, spare time for updating, research, and rest, less mistakes, etc. Another benefit would be opening new employment avenues and creating jobs that would relieve doctors and nurses of routine procedures. Moreover, patients would be protected from hospital-related infections, their autonomy would be preserved (home care), and their connection to the social networks that provide them with emotional support would not be severed.
The organizational facet relates to the long work hours and chronic stress that deplete the physician’s resources and increase burnout. We propose that organizations increase physicians’ resources wherever possible, so as to maintain a resonable level of resources, and enable recovery from stress. For instance, opening a gym for doctors in the hospital, setting time for yoga/meditation, providing effective tools for coping with stress, augmenting psychological resources that are the basis of quality coping. A recent meta analysis has substantiated the claim that cognitive, behavioral, and mindfulness-based approaches are effective in reducing stress in medical students and practicing physicians, and may also contribute to lower levels of burnout in physicians. Indeed, a controlled experiment concerning primary healthcare professionals has significantly shown that the use of mindfulness- based programs as part of continuing professional education to reduce and prevent burnout promote positive attitudes among health professionals, strengthen patient-provider relationships, and enhance well-being. Optimal coping with stress at work to a certain degree reduces future stress, because it is a cycle that feeds itself. Proper coping with stress at work will enable the physician to be less impatient with the patient, which in turn improves the level of service and prevents possible problems from a patient who is dissatisfied with the service that he/she received.
Observing the research model and its results empasizes the importance of treating physicians’ stressors and burnout in order to prevent their dissatisfaction and turnover intentions. Subjective perception of stress and the burnout closely related to it precede the rest of the unwanted organizational results, and should therefore be addressed first. We recommend that heads of health systems treat the physicians’ objective stressors, which affect subjective perceptions of stress, which is, in turn, related to burnout. We propose two levels of treatment to reduce stress: structural and organizational.The structural aspect should involve reduction of objective stress on physicians by changing the actual structure of health services. Hospital doctors suffer from an overload of tasks, great responsibility, and they work long hours. We believe that a considerable number of tasks that are at present performed by hospital doctors should be transferred to other medical branches. Hospital physicians would deal with life-threatening emergencies, intensive care, and complex medical procedures. Other cases, not related to infective diseases, can be supported by community clinics and home care. This would result in the development of new professions such as nurse’s assistant, who would actively perform simple, routine medical procedures that were so far performed by hospital doctors and nurses, thus freeing them for the core roles of their profession. First examples of such steps already exist and are successful. We suggest expanding them to form a general rather than specific perception change, primarily due to developing medical technologies that enable it. For instance, in the past, treatment of diabetes was performed in hospitals, whereas today family members inject sick children with insulin and supervise sugar levels by simple technological means. Other medical procedures, such as changing bandages of bedsores, could be performed by family members or caretakers after short training. The benefits of the suggested structural change could have far-reaching consequences. It could reduce hospital costs, while decreasing overload and improving service to the patients. Further- more, it could reduce physicians’ overload by eliminating routine tasks and grinding bureaucracy, which would enable a meaningful relationship with the patient, a sense of satisfaction and significance among doctors, spare time for updating, research, and rest, less mistakes, etc. Another benefit would be opening new employment avenues and creating jobs that would relieve doctors and nurses of routine procedures. Moreover, patients would be protected from hospital-related infections, their autonomy would be preserved (home care), and their connection to the social networks that provide them with emotional support would not be severed.The organizational facet relates to the long work hours and chronic stress that deplete the physician’s resources and increase burnout. We propose that organizations increase physicians’ resources wherever possible, so as to maintain a resonable level of resources, and enable recovery from stress. For instance, opening a gym for doctors in the hospital, setting time for yoga/meditation, providing effective tools for coping with stress, augmenting psychological resources that are the basis of quality coping. A recent meta analysis has substantiated the claim that cognitive, behavioral, and mindfulness-based approaches are effective in reducing stress in medical students and practicing physicians, and may also contribute to lower levels of burnout in physicians. Indeed, a controlled experiment concerning primary healthcare professionals has significantly shown that the use of mindfulness- based programs as part of continuing professional education to reduce and prevent burnout promote positive attitudes among health professionals, strengthen patient-provider relationships, and enhance well-being. Optimal coping with stress at work to a certain degree reduces future stress, because it is a cycle that feeds itself. Proper coping with stress at work will enable the physician to be less impatient with the patient, which in turn improves the level of service and prevents possible problems from a patient who is dissatisfied with the service that he/she received.
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