A physician’s mental and emotional state creates a ripple effect throughout the entire health organization and beyond. If supported by effective physician wellness initiatives, it can be a positive ripple effect.
But, if a physician is experiencing high levels of distress, everyone around them feels the ramifications — their patients, their coworkers, their supervisors, and the health system as a whole.
To get a better grasp on how and why to support physician wellness, let’s first define it.
What is physician wellness?
Physician wellness refers to the mental, physical, emotional, and professional well-being of doctors. Some factors that affect physician wellness include work-life balance, job satisfaction, workload, autonomy, organizational culture, and access to mental health resources.
Now that we have a better understanding of what physician wellness is, let’s explore perhaps an even more pressing question:
Why does supporting physician wellness matter?
- Fewer mistakes in patient care
- Increased patient satisfaction
- Lower levels of physician fatigue
- Improved physician mental health
- Positive organizational culture
- Healthier bottom lines
Each of these 6 reasons represents a ripple. In this case, the object causing ripples in the water is physician wellness. When we systematically support physician wellness, instead of blaming the individual, the ripples (or, the results) are positive ones.
For everybody.
Fewer Mistakes in Patient Care
Barry Rubin, MD, PhD, FRCSC, and Chair and Medical Director of the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, points out in a Champions of Wellness interview a simple but thought-provoking question:
“If somebody isn’t at their best, how can they provide the best patient care?”
This isn’t to say that mistakes in patient care are due to a physician’s personal failings. In fact, Dr. Rubin expresses the opposite: “This is actually a very big societal issue.”
Dr. Rubin goes on to explain that when physicians’ well-being isn’t prioritized, it can lead to job burnout and high distress levels. This causes increased…
- Mistakes in patient care
- Serious safety events
- Hospital readmittance
- Patient mortality rates
Healthier physicians mean healthier patients. For an overall more effective healthcare system with fewer mistakes, physician wellness should be high on the list of priorities.
Increased Patient Satisfaction
In addition to fewer mistakes and safety events, supporting physician wellness can result in increased patient satisfaction. To Mukta Panda, MD, MACP, FRCP–London, and author of Resilient Threads: Weaving Joy and Meaning into Well-Being, patient satisfaction relies on more than just treating a diagnosis.
From her 40 years in medicine, Dr. Panda has found that when physicians feel like they have a supportive partnership with the larger organization, they can show up as human beings for their patients — not medical robots. “We can make more authentic communication. A more authentic connection. And our relationship and meaning and purpose are so much richer,” she tells Champions of Wellness.
People go to the doctor in some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. If an organization’s leadership makes physicians feel heard and safe, they can make more meaningful connections with their patients. This can be monumental during a time when a patient might be scared or confused.
Supported physicians bring humanity into their practice. The safety and support that they feel can then be passed on to the patient, resulting in a more satisfying experience.
Lower Levels of Physician Fatigue
“I think the humanity gets buried because of so many other roles and responsibilities that it feels overwhelming and it becomes more and more difficult for it to surface,” explains Dr. Panda. She describes this feeling as “Multiple Hats Syndrome.”
Filling out electronic health records. Navigating complex insurance regulations. Complying with organizational policies. Attending meetings. Responding to emails. Keeping up on CME. Documentation for value-based care assessments.
All of this and more on top of caring for, at times, extremely vulnerable patients? And that’s not even including the hats physicians have to wear at home. Spouse. Parent. Neighbor. Chef. Custodian. Caretaker.
When the health organization doesn’t prioritize physician wellness, it’s obvious how fatigue can cloud someone like a thick fog.
Doctors went into this profession because making people feel better energizes them. But when they’re bogged down by a system that doesn’t seem to even care about them, it’s hard to find that energy. That’s when the humanity is buried, as Dr. Panda puts it.
If we can take the first step in supporting physician wellness—-getting a comprehensive assessment of underlying burnout factors—-it can start to lift this fog of fatigue. Which, in turn, can help physicians feel more energized by their work.
Improved Physician Mental Health
In any profession, it’s imperative that we not feel alone. Humans are social creatures and meaningful social interactions, especially at work, help relieve stress.
For doctors to effectively navigate systemic pressures from the hospital, the state, and the federal level, they should be encouraged to build a support network. Dr. Panda emphasizes the importance of creating a community with those who can deeply relate to you. She points out that engaging with your community is a form of self-care: “Self-care isn’t ‘I’ in spite of ‘We.’ It’s ‘I’ and ‘We.’”
It’s now a well-known fact that physicians are at higher risk of dying by suicide than the general population. “Sadly, there are many, many high-profile examples of death by suicide,” Dr. Rubin says.
Fortunately, organizations can support clinician mental health through tools like anonymized well-being self-assessments and community-building opportunities. Mental health is at the center of physician wellness. And if it’s not addressed in a timely or caring way, the consequences can be fatal.
Healthier Bottom Lines
Most importantly, patient care, patient satisfaction, physician fatigue, and physician mental health affect real human beings. If physician wellness is left unaddressed by leadership, these elements can also negatively impact the financial health of the institution.
Dr. Rubin lists out some of the specific costs related to poor physician wellness:
- Cost of physician turnover
- Cost of retraining
- Cost of reduced clinical hours
He points to a study done in 2019 estimating that the consequences of physician burnout cost the U.S. approximately $4.6 billion per year. (That’s on the conservative base-case model.)
If it wasn’t enough that poor physician wellness negatively impacts patients and doctors, it’s also detrimental to the financial health of the organization.
Though well-being initiatives may cost budget in the beginning, the effects of supporting physician wellness are always positively reflected in the bottom line.
Supporting Physician Wellness: The Proof is There
We shouldn’t wait until a crisis happens to start assessing and supporting physician well-being.
Although many organizations struggle to quantify the positive effects of supporting physician wellness, it is possible. Tools validated by rigorous, multi-step processes can accurately measure the well-being of medical providers and offer proven solutions. Assessing the current state of well-being in an organization is the first step in creating positive ripple effects — fewer mistakes in patient care, increased patient satisfaction, lower levels of fatigue, improved mental health, and a healthier bottom line.
To get started, find out where your organization’s physicians stand in terms of well-being. See how a regional health group is doing just that.
