Being a healthcare provider is both a rewarding and stressful occupation. Physicians can easily suffer from burnout. An alarming 42% of clinicians in the United States suffer from burnout, which can cause low work performance and negatively affect patient care. Burnout can also harm the provider-patient relationship and can result in diagnostic errors.

What does clinician burnout mean?

The term physician burnout is when the doctor lacks physical energy and emotional energy. Burnout is the loss of enthusiasm for work and there is little sense of personal accomplishment. Clinician burnout occurs when the doctor is overburdened with long working hours and handling tedious clinical tasks.

Telehealth to reduce physician burnout

Fortunately, healthcare providers can make use of the robust Telemedicine EMR software platform to lower the risk of burnout and help them offer high-quality patient care. The telemedicine platform can combat the issue of clinician burnout in the following ways:

  • Helps to improve work-life balance – One of the major benefits of using telehealth is that it allows providers to have online sessions with their patients from the comfort of their homes which are as effective as in-person sessions. A study conducted in 2015 revealed that  79% of physicians wanted to offer telemedicine services as it helps to enhance their work-life balance.
  • Optimizing schedules – Telemedicine EMR Software solutions can also reduce the chances of burnout by optimizing schedules. A telemedicine session might be shorter than an in-person session at the doctor’s office and yet could be as effective in terms of patient diagnosis and care. Shorter appointments mean that the doctor’s stress is at bay as he/she doesn’t require to push through schedules.
  • Decrease commutes – Not every doctor is lucky enough to have a clinic close to their homes. Most of the providers need to engage in long commutes daily, this can add up to stress and lead to clinician burnout. Telemedicine software can eliminate the doctor’s need to commute to the clinic every day. For example, if the provider is under the weather he/she can easily take appointments at home.
  • Improved patient experience – Physician burnout and patient experiences are related closely. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that burnout can lead to lower adherence to treatment plans and less-safe patient care. By using the telemedicine platform physicians are more relaxed and can focus on their patients to provide them with a better patient experience.
  • Reduce the burden of chronic disease management – Telemedicine EHR software platform can also reduce the burden of chronic disease management on both providers and patients. Remote patient monitoring can help prevent emergency department visits as clinicians can keep tabs on their patients by receiving real-time data about BP, heart rate, etc.

Telemedicine solutions have helped providers increase care access and reach out to more patients without feeling pressured and stressed. Both patients and providers have the benefits of using the flexible and powerful platform. Telemedicine has become the need of the healthcare sector and has come to the forefront of offering effective remote care opportunities to patients all over the world.