How Technology Can Combat the Healthcare Burnout Crisis

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the United States' healthcare sector has experienced a steady increase in staffing shortages, fueling the concerning burnout crisis among clinicians. Hospital systems nationwide are experiencing growing workforce challenges driven by staff fleeing long shifts, time pressures, and burdensome documentation expectations. By improving clinician efficiency, advanced healthcare technology can help healthcare systems reduce staff turnover and mitigate the burnout crisis.

Just How Bad Is It?

With the demand for nurses and other healthcare professionals soaring in recent years, clinicians and hospital systems alike are facing immense pressure from the strains of staffing shortages. In fact, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the U.S. can expect to witness an estimated shortage of between 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by 2034. With the staffing crisis projected to linger for years to come, healthcare professionals across the nation have no choice but to work overtime, leading to an increase in the likelihood of exhaustion and burnout.

The Impact of Burnout on the Healthcare Industry

Healthcare worker burnout is detrimental to both clinicians themselves and to the patients and organizations they serve. From a decrease in the practitioner's mental health to a poor patient experience, this workforce dilemma undermines clinical outcomes. Among the most frequently cited sources of frustration for clinicians is dissatisfaction with the usability of electronic health records; the combination of poor usability and rigid time constraints signals a need for time-efficient patient information software. Fortunately, advanced healthcare technology - like ChartMedic - can help alleviate the burnout and stresses caused by time-consuming methods of gathering and recording patient information.

The Role of Technology in Reducing Healthcare Burnout

Providing extra support for clinic staff, whether physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or medical assistants, the newfound adoption of advanced healthcare technology in clinical settings improves workflows and alleviates stress. From strengthening patient-provider communication to simplifying patient monitoring, modern technology helps reduce healthcare burnout in a variety of ways.

Streamline communications

Communication between providers is critical to delivering optimal patient care, as summarized in an almost decade-old review. In fact, clinical errors and malpractice claims are mainly attributed to patient-provider miscommunication and poor communication practices. The multiplicity of different means of communication (faxes, text messages, pagers, pop-up alerts, phone calls on landlines, etc.) that many healthcare organizations rely on to convey information places additional cognitive burdens on clinicians and imposes multiple interruptions that make effective and timely communication with patients nearly impossible.

ChartMedic is an innovative technology solution that recognizes the value of fast and efficient two-way information flow between providers and patients and is specifically designed to improve healthcare communication. Using ChartMedic, clinicians receive and store vital information provided by patients and can focus their communications on satisfying patients' needs and achieving better outcomes.

Improve information access

Clinical decisions are informed by information gleaned from a myriad of sources. Information provided by the patient, whether contextual information such as a complete medical history relevant to a patient's current condition or subjective information such as the presence, absence, and character of the patient's symptoms, is vital to the provision of safe and effective care. Information provided by nurse calls, physiological evaluations, and lab reports contributes as well.

As an electronic history-taking assistant, the ChartMedic app not only facilitates information gathering from the patient but also integrates it into a familiar and easily digestible format with minimal clinician effort expended, reducing frustrations and the likelihood of overwork.

Enhance the gathering of patient data

Many hospitals and clinics rely on paper-based methods for collecting data from the patient, an old-fashioned and inefficient approach characterized by patient waiting time issues, slow care delivery processes, and storage costs. In the context of time constraints imposed by the realities of healthcare nowadays, providers and staff find the traditional paper-based systems overburdening, contributing to burnout.

Advanced healthcare technology systems such as ChartMedic resolve issues related to paper-based data collection methods and further upgrade the patient data collection process. Essentially, ChartMedic adds another staff member to your clinic to expedite the entire data collection process, from the curation of a patient intake form to the automatic transfer of patient data to the processing cloud.

Alleviate Burnout With ChartMedic

ChartMedic is a modern, intuitive healthcare application with numerous advanced features that help address the implications of staffing shortages and improve the functioning of healthcare systems nationwide. The HIPAA-compliant app is secure and makes a core clinical process more efficient. For more information on how ChartMedic can combat the threat of burnout in your clinic, fill out our online form today.