mHealth appears to be a long-term blessing and a short-term curse for physicians.
While physicians see mHealth as beneficial for care down the road, the stresses and regulations of mHealth in the present day are heightening levels of dissatisfaction, according to a survey conducted by Geneia.
Geneia's Physician Misery Index surveyed more than 400 full-time practicing physicians nationwide.
On a "misery scale" of one to five, surveyed physicians fell at 3.7, which, according to Geneia, means the mood is shifting away from satisfaction and toward misery. Heather Lavoie, COO of Geneia, told mHealth News that technology appears to be adding to physician stress right now.
The majority of physicians surveyed — 87 percent — said business and regulatory requirements have changed healthcare for the worse. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they often feel rushed when interacting with patients.
Newer physicians — those who have been practicing for less than a decade — are more likely to have considered alternate careers than physicians who have been practicing for more than a decade, at 62 percent and 51 percent, respectively.
Additionally, 67 percent of respondents said they know a physician who will likely stop practicing in the next five years due to burnout.
mHealth could be a solution to these negative feelings, though the results can't be expected for a number of years, Ms. Lavoie told mHealth News. "If you've just come off a $300 million EMR implementation, you're exhausted, and you aren't ready to take on other projects. And the integration of mobile health tools is just something that's not realized at this point."
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