On Sept. 1, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article, “Improving Health Care Quality Measurement to Combat Clinician Burnout.” In the article, neurosurgeon Anthony M. DiGiorgio, DO, MHA, FAANS, joined AMA president Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, and Brian J. Miller, MD, MBA, MPH, in discussing the impacts and causes of burnout, which affects up to two-thirds of physicians.
Although the causes are multifactorial, the authors state that one of the key causes of clinician frustration is quality metrics. Administrative burdens from poorly designed systems and ineffective regulatory policies are central to clinician frustration. Improving these metrics could reduce clinician burnout, with studies indicating that physicians spend less than 15% of their day in direct patient contact.
On Sept. 7, the Neurosurgery Blog published a cross-post to amplify this important message.
