The power of mindfulness

The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on everyone, particularly for those fighting each day on the frontlines of care. A September 2020 study revealed that 64% of the US physicians surveyed were experiencing provider burnout at the time they were interviewed.

For all the advances technology has brought to 21st-century medicine, there remains a need for means of transcribing and transferring information. And because healthcare is as much art as science — and involves human beings — opportunities remain for refining the traditional function of the scribe, from faithfully reproducing information to using human intellect and ingenuity to devise better ways of interpreting data, drawing upon medical knowledge, and making a positive difference in the lives of patients.

V11, the latest version of our core EHR, is transforming healthcare by providing physicians and medical staff with tools for comprehensive documentation, in-depth understanding, greater value, and higher satisfaction — for users and patients.

Not all illnesses are visible. Physician burnout is a long-term stress reaction marked by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a lack of a sense of personal achievement. A 2019 report revealed that 44% of doctors are burned out.

In March 2018, there were 501,296 active physicians working in the United States. That’s more than half a million people who have dedicated their lives to the well-being of others. Just as important to the world of healthcare are the 234,000 licensed nurse practitioners and the 122,555 licensed physician assistants (as of 2017) who work tirelessly to keep people healthy.

Often, the constant time spent keeping patients healthy can affect a medical professional’s health.

Many physicians and their staffs pride themselves on being able to do lots of different tasks. Their intentions are excellent. Doctors, after all, are in the business of helping patients. So, helping as many as possible in the shortest amount of time can’t be a bad thing, right?

Remember those family vacations when the family packed into the car and drove for miles and miles? Eventually, someone would say what was on everybody’s mind: “When are we going to get there?”

Like many providers today, those at Portland, Maine’s InterMed are busier than ever, providing a wide variety of primary care and specialty services to thousands of patients daily. They found that one of the best ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness isn’t to work that much harder and faster, but to slow down and take the time to learn some new techniques. That’s where eClinicalWorks Scribe has made such a difference. 

As the only full-service healthcare facility for a 100-mile stretch of California’s Central Coast, Big Sur Health Center has to be prepared for the expected, the unexpected and everything in between. For all its natural splendor, Big Sur is also a land of danger, with wildfires, torrential rains, and constant threat of earthquakes.

In 2008, the Basin Complex Fire burned over 130,000 acres, forcing the evacuation of most of the community. We quickly put all our medical and financial records into boxes ready to move to a safe location. Later, when we were debriefing, we asked ourselves: What would have worked better? What is our number one priority in upgrading our emergency preparedness plan? We concluded an Electronic Medical Record System was the answer.

Technology continues to advance in healthcare, but an epidemic of physician burnout continues to threaten the quality of both the doctor’s and the patient’s experience. Between 2011 and 2014, burnout increased from 45.5% to 54.4%, according to the American Journal of Medicine. That had a negative impact on the quality of care, patient safety, and provider and patient satisfaction. While some EHR companies’ solutions may actually make the burnout problem worse by forcing providers to spend even more time on their computers, eClinicalWorks is providing tools that help providers actually reduce the risks of burnout.

For today’s busy physicians, finding ways to speed workflows without sacrificing accurate, quality care is critical to meeting the needs of their patients. According to a July 2018 study of U.S. physicians conducted by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, 55 percent reported symptoms of burnout. The study found that physician burnout is as important a factor in medical errors as unsafe medical workplace conditions — if not more so.