Last week, the Massachusetts Medical Society – Massachusetts Health
& Hospital Association Joint Task Force on Physician Burnout in
association with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and
Harvard Global Health Institute released a white paper entitled, A CRISIS IN HEALTH CARE: A CALL TO ACTION ON PHYSICIAN BURNOUT.
My friend and colleague, Dr. Alain Chaoui, President of MMS, Michelle Williams, Professor and Dean of the Faculty, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and I wrote an Op-Ed which appeared in The Boston Globe last week: Doctor burnout is real. And it’s dangerous. In both publications we advocate for for removal of barriers to mental healthcare for clinicians, the employment of Chief Wellness Officers at healthcare institutions and optimization of the current generation of electronic medical records (EMRs).
These recommendations received widespread attention, as they were simultaneously covered by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey in her front page Boston Globe story: Physician burnout now essentially a public health crisis and by Heather Landi in Healthcare Infomatics: Research: Physician Burnout is a Public Health Crisis; Improving EHR Usability is Critical.
The most valuable asset of any organization is the worker on the front-lines. Today, too many of these clinicians are bleeding.
Let’s work together to bring these three recommendations to fruition while helping bring joy back to caring in 2019.