Reducing Health Care Provider Stress and Burnout t

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill., May 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reducing health care provider stress and burnout to improve satisfaction and patient care is the focus of two new articles in the May 2018 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety . The articles examine the use of medical scribes to improve provider work life and the development of a Resiliency Center to coordinate faculty and staff wellness initiatives.

Medical scribes Scribes appear to be an effective intervention for improving clinician work life, according to Marc L. Martel, MD, and co-authors in “Developing a Medical Scribe Program at an Academic Hospital: The Hennepin County Medical Center Experience.” A medical scribe program was deployed in nine clinics at the Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis. The medical scribes, who had no clinical duties, supported both physicians and advanced practice clinicians (APCs) by charting physician-patient encounters.

After implementation of the program, the percentage of providers who reported documentation time at the office was poor or marginal declined from 75 percent before implementation to 24 percent. The percentage who rated time spent on the EHR at home as excessive or moderately high dropped from 64 percent before implementation to 32 percent. Providers reported greater satisfaction with their role in the clinic, as well as improvements in how much time they spent on documentation and their ability to listen to patients.

In an accompanying editorial, “Moving our Attention from Keyboards to Patients: A Way Forward for Improving Professional Fulfillment and Health Care Value,” Christine A. Sinsky, MD, vice president, Professional Satisfaction, American Medical Association, notes that the Martel et al. study includes “practical guidance that can serve as a roadmap for other institutions embarking on efforts to decrease the burden of documentation and increase the value physicians and APCs provide.”

Resiliency Center A growing body of evidence highlights the need for wellness programs to support health care providers. In the article, “Focus on the Quadruple Aim: Development of a Resiliency Center to Promote Faculty and Staff Wellness Initiatives,” Ellen Morrow, MD, and co-authors report how a Resiliency Center was created at the University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City. The effort began with the appointment of a Chief Wellness Officer, followed by wellness initiatives, communication skills training, peer support, and an on-site employee assistance program. Future research will focus on measuring the Center’s impact.

The articles and editorial are available online free to the public. Also featured in the issue:

• “Improving Maternal Safety with the Mentor Model of Collaborative Improvement” (California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California)
• “1,300 Days and Counting: An Approach to Preventing Retained Foreign Objects” (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City)
• “A Call to Bridge Across Silos During Care Transitions” (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland)
• “Deriving a Framework for Systems-Based Approach to Agitated-Patient Care in the Emergency Department” (Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut)
• “A Bedside Computerized Decision-Support Tool for Intravenous Insulin Infusion Management in Critically Ill Patients” (North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, Florida)
• “The Association Between the Electronic Health Record and Patient-Reported Receipt of Tobacco Cessation Care in Hospitalized Veterans” (Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Iowa City Health Care System)

For more information, visit The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety website .

Note for editors The article is “Developing a Medical Scribe Program at an Academic Hospital: The Hennepin County Medical Center Experience” by Marc L. Martel, MD; Brian H. Imdieke, MAN, ANP-BC; Kayla M. Holm, BS; Sara Poplau, BA; William G. Heegaard, MD, MPH, MBA; Jon L. Pryor, MD, MBA; and Mark Linzer, MD. The article appears in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety , volume 44, number 5 (May 2018), published by Elsevier.

The editorial is “Moving our Attention from Keyboards to Patients: A Way Forward for Improving Professional Fulfillment and Health Care Value” by Christine A. Sinsky, MD. The editorial appears in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety , volume 44, number 5 (May 2018), published by Elsevier.

The article is “Focus on the Quadruple Aim: Development of a Resiliency Center to Promote Faculty and Staff Wellness Initiatives” by Ellen Morrow, MD; Megan Call, PhD; Robin Marcus, PhD; and Amy Locke, MD. The article appears in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety , volume 44, number 5 (May 2018), published by Elsevier.

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety (JQPS) is a peer-reviewed journal providing health care professionals with innovative thinking, strategies and practices in improving quality and safety in health care. JQPS is the official journal of The Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources, Inc. Original case studies, program or project reports, reports of new methodologies or the new application of methodologies, research studies, and commentaries on issues and practices are all considered.

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Media Contact: Katie Looze Bronk Corporate Communications (630) 792-5175 kbronk@jointcommission.org