You’re not alone.
The picture for many OB-GYNs today is a familiar one. With short-staffed health care systems and an unrelenting pace of work, most OB-GYNs are exhausted and burned out.
The research backs this up. In a Medscape survey of 9,226 physicians in 29 specialties, those working in obstetrics and gynecology had the second-highest burnout rate, at 53%.1
There are multiple reasons for this. Among them, OB-GYNs report being overworked and spending too much time on bureaucratic tasks, from charting to paperwork.
Read on below for our top time-saving tips with advice from the experts.
Many OB-GYNs identify with having a lack of time or working long hours. But what exactly are the causes of this?
By identifying the pain points, you can start to establish actionable strategies to address them.. Pinpointing these issues is one part of the solution.
Dr. Jennifer Boyle, an obstetrician and gynecologist, who is also a Flo expert, says: “Like most OB-GYN’s, I often struggle and feel overwhelmed by having so many demands on my time. However, what I like about having a career in medicine is that you can always try to get better and improve your craft, whether this is perfecting your surgical technique or fine-tuning how you get through a busy office day.”
Dr. Boyle gives an example of one of her “biggest pain points”: managing patient communications outside of scheduled visits. “We are often overwhelmed by patient requests through the patient portal to give explanations about lab results and to answer clinical questions,” she explains.
Although her organization is still working on a solution, identifying this issue has helped her to make headway. “One thing that I have found so far that helps me with this problem is to offer virtual visits,” she adds. “This is a way to convert a multi-paragraph patient portal message into an actual visit in which I can better help people and for which my organization can bill.”
We all have different qualities, and each of us brings something unique to the workplace. Take the time within your teams to identify your individual strengths and weaknesses. Who works better together? Who might contribute more by working in another area? This is even more important given that many healthcare systems are understaffed: the World Health Organization estimates a projected shortfall of 10 million health workers by 2030.2
Talk to your colleagues and make sure each of you are matched with the right tasks according to your knowledge, skills and qualifications. Effective communication is key for ensuring team cohesion. You could try a mixture of formal and informal meetings, or setting up a 15-minute daily catch-up.
By seeing what each of you bring to the table, you can work better as a team: making your workplace more efficient, productive and – ultimately – improve the care for your patients.