IRHA Public Policy Forum: Dr. Turner Discusses Physician Burnout

On January 23rd, the Indiana Rural Health Association hosted its annual Public Policy Forum in downtown Indianapolis. The forum brought together IRHA's diverse membership with state officials and experts on topics that impact rural Hoosiers. Agenda items included presentations from state officials, a question and answer session with Lieutenant Governor, Suzanne Crouch, an economic development panel, and a panel on Physician Burnout.

Dr. Turner represented a physician's views on the problem of burnout among healthcare providers. Dr. Turner, offered some suggestions as to what he would like to see healthcare entities do in order to help solve the burnout crisis: "Take this gigantic burden of clerical work off our back" Dr. Turner said, "We went to school to practice medicine, let us do what we love." The panel included Hannah Maxey, PhD, MPH, from the Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research & Policy and Tim Putnam, CEO of Margaret Mary Health.

According to a recent study completed by the Mayo Clinic, 26.6% of physicians surveyed responded it was likely or definite that they would leave their current practice in the next two years. Of those individuals who reported those feelings, 1.9% said they would leave medicine altogether and pursue a different career. The reasons as to why physicians felt burned out included dissatisfaction with work-life integration and dissatisfaction with the electronic health record; both were independent predictors of intent to reduce clinical work hours and whether the physician felt they would leave their current practice.

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The Mayo Clinic study is available here.