Healthcare Exhaustion: The New Reality of Physician Recruitment

Jul 26, 2022

It’s no secret that physicians experience high rates of burnout and those numbers have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. In Medscape’s 2022 survey, 47 % of the physicians surveyed stated they were burned out. Within specialties, Emergency (60%), Critical Care (56%), and OBGYNs (53%) reported the highest rates of burnout. The bottom line? Doctors are exhausted. 

During this year’s Inline Sessions, we spoke with the Director of Human Resources at Alivio Medical Center to dive into the reality of exhaustion and burnout in healthcare.

COVID-19 and Physician Burnout

One of the most notable impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic is its effect on new physicians entering the workforce. For these new residents, the majority of their cases centered around treating COVID-19. The National Library of Medicine published an article pointing out that COVID-19 impacted four main areas for trainees: clinical training, didactic education, board certification, and physical & psychological health. 

While it should be noted that new physicians are more than prepared to treat patients, it’s worth exploring the ways their on-the-job training has been vastly different than the physicians who came before them. Simply put, healthcare facilities saw less diversity among cases, resulting in decreased case exposure for residents.

On top of this, the physical and psychological health of physicians took another hit from the pandemic. Among surveyed physicians, the majority use physical exercise and talking with family/close friends as a method to cope with burnout. During the height of the pandemic, physicians experienced limitations with these coping mechanisms, thus increasing the likelihood of burnout.

Healthcare Exhaustion and Recruitment

At Alivio Medical Center, they’ve focused on providing comprehensive training when onboarding new physicians. Instead of a simple, one or two-week orientation for new hires, healthcare facilities can focus on extensive onboarding and training that set up new physicians to find success.

Beyond COVID-19-specific burnout, this approach to new hires can improve any facility’s hiring process. According to data from Glassdoor, an in-depth onboarding program can increase new hire retention by 82%. At a time when providers are hard to find, this increase in retention can help your facility avoid provider turnover.

Embracing the Change

Healthcare hiring teams know the importance of flexibility when it comes to recruiting physicians. In an ever-changing industry, it’s important to understand the current needs of doctors and how your facility can meet them. Click here to watch this entire Inline Session and explore other topics discussed.

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