The pandemic has placed a strain on practically every person and industry in the country, including doctors and the healthcare industry. Numbers in a survey conducted by Medscape show COVID-19's impact on doctors and how it's “spread” past the workplace and into their home life.
Prior to COVID-19, in another survey around a year ago, 39% of doctors claim to have been somewhat happy and 43% said they were very happy outside the workplace. However, in this latest survey, the total of somewhat happy physicians dropped to 38% and very happy to 20%.
Over 12,000 doctors in 29 different specialties filled out the survey, which was conducted between Aug 30 and Nov 5.
Around 47% (almost half) of doctors said they'd sacrifice a portion of their salary to experience a better balance in work-life. Around a third said they'd take a cut in pay between $10,000 and $20,000. And then another third said they'd take a cut between $20,000 and $50,000.
On top of this, an AMA Insurance report shows around half of all doctors work over 50 hours a week. Many hospitals still use manual scheduling methods to schedule their doctors. But this can lead to doctors spending valuable time dealing with time-off approvals, call shifts, and other frustrations. Physician scheduling software can help. Here's how:
Emergency medicine scheduling can help with:
1. Avoiding Scheduling Errors
Scheduling errors come in many forms. If you schedule doctors in two places at one, it takes up a lot of time for both patients and doctors. If you schedule a doctor to be on call, at an in-office appointment, or on a virtual telehealth session, when they're not available, it's embarrassing for the medical practice and inefficient, not to mention inconvenient for the patient. Automated shift scheduling software can help facilitate different processes like shift swaps, days off changes, and more.
2. Work/Life Balance
Physician scheduling software helps with things like: • Acceptable work patterns
• Autonomy
• A fair schedule
• Impact on fatigue
• Reduced physician burnout A better work and life balance can do wonders for a doctor’s physical and mental wellbeing.
3. Improving Transparency
While all doctors work various hours, that time doesn't always feel fair or equal to them. Long on-call shifts are particularly stressful and tiresome, which can result in complaints and unhappiness in physicians. Emergency medicine scheduling software ensures fair and equal schedules over the long-term.
This past year has challenged the happiness of everyone, including essential workers and front line heroes, like doctors. Do you want to make your doctors happy -- especially in an unprecedented time where they are perhaps needed more than ever? Consider implementing scheduling software into your physician scheduler system. You’ll likely find, you’ll be happy you did.
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