|
Physician turnover is a significant problem for medical clinics and hospitals. Reducing physician turnover may be as easy as using a physician scheduling program.
Emergency Physician Scheduling and Burnout
Turnover rates for physicians have increased continuously since 2019. From 2022 to 2023, more than 35% of doctors said they were moderately interested in leaving their current jobs within the next two years, according to a survey by the AMA. Physicians who were 20+ years out of training expressed the greatest interest in leaving, at 40.8%. More than 32% of doctors practicing emergency medicine had the highest intent to leave their jobs.
While physicians may move to another practice or stop practicing altogether for many reasons, scheduling is a significant factor when it comes to physician burnout and turnover rates. An inflexible scheduling system can lead to excessive working hours and demanding patient volumes, and disrupt the work-life balance in ways that lead to physician burnout.
The emergency department (ED) is one of the most unpredictable departments in healthcare, which makes it especially difficult when it comes to scheduling physicians. The emergency department is open 24/7, faces unpredictable patient volumes, and often faces staffing shortages. Demand for care in the emergency department is also on the rise, as many patients lose access to regular healthcare. This environment can promote burnout and physician turnover.
Reducing Physician Turnover Can Improve Your Bottom Line
Losing a physician creates an empty space that leaves other doctors and their patients in a lurch. The loss of a physician can also be quite costly, in that replacing a physician can cost a practice as much as a million dollars, according to Becker’s Hospital Review.
Maintaining physicians, on the other hand, can help bring much-needed revenue. Replacing a physician can cost more than just their annual salary. Physicians generate an average of $2.4 million annually for their affiliated hospitals, for example, so losing just one doctor can be costly.
Physician turnover in ambulatory care can also affect the quality of care patients receive by disrupting the continuity of care and eroding satisfaction rates; high turnover rates in emergency departments can leave the ED perpetually understaffed and overworked. This can lower the morale of the remaining staff and lead to even more burnout and turnover, creating a costly vicious cycle that is hard to stop.
Having an Emergency Scheduling Program Can Help
Let’s face it – shift scheduling can be one of the most difficult and challenging aspects of running an emergency department. It’s nearly impossible to predict how many patients will come through the ED doors, and even more difficult to schedule the right number of providers to handle the traffic. Inconsistent scheduling can lead to gaps in care, and contribute to costly turnover.
If reducing emergency physician turnover is important to your medical practice, consider using emergency medicine scheduling by ByteBloc. We’ve been scheduling emergency providers since 1989, and are constantly enhancing our scheduling system and adding new features to make your life even easier.
|