Physician burnout is one of the most pressing issues facing the healthcare industry, but utilizing one simple framework could help providers evaluate and address its root causes, according to the Harvard Business Review.
The framework involves differentiating the areas of stress and reward that are inherent to caring for patients and those that are external. The first step one must take to use this framework involves diagramming the two types of stress and reward. On the inherent side, one example source of stress might be the high-stakes pressure of caring for human lives, while a reward might be the sense of meaning and purpose clinicians get from their work. On the external side, a reward might be good pay and benefits, while a source of stress might be a poor work environment or administrative burden.
Once physicians have cataloged their stresses and rewards according to this framework, hospital and health system leaders can work to enhance the sense of inherent reward that their clinicians feel. Conversely, those external sources of stress can actually be addressed though organizational changes and reform.