Urgent care, by nature, is a fast-paced practice setting; patients come to your practice because they don’t feel like they can wait to see a primary care provider, after all. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the pace can take its toll, especially on the clinical staff. Providers can reach the point of burnout if they’re not careful. Now, Practice Velocity has a few suggestions that might help, put forth in a blog post entitled Three Ways to Prevent Provider Burnout. If you don’t think you have time to read it, you probably need to read it. In the meantime, we’ll share an overview of the “three ways:”
- Encourage work-life balance. This one speaks to the need to help employees refresh and enjoy life beyond the workplace.
- Delegate tasks to other staff members. Administrative tasks, especially, can be picked up by competent nonclinical staff without concern. This will leave providers more time to focus on patients—which presumably is what drew them to the job to begin with.
- Support schedule flexibility. Some people like to work very long hours in order to have more time truly off. Others prefer shorter shifts on a weekly basis. If you have the latitude to let them choose, do it. You might help them stay focused longer and achieve greater job satisfaction (which often equates to loyalty).
This is a topic that’s been covered in JUCM over the years. A good place to start if you want to read more would be Strategies for Managing Employee Burnout, in the JUCM archives.