By Larry Carr
Apr 06, 2023
Work-life balance, a better work environment and a greater sense of fulfillment is worth far more than a fat pay check for today's doctors. It is surprising to note, that half of doctors are ready to take up a pay reduction for a better work experience - working fewer hours and achieving a greater work-life balance. Are you a doctor who missed your child's annual day performance in school? Are you not able to get home for family mealtime as you had to stay after clinic hours to finish your days charting? Are you running a busy schedule with barely a moment to breathe? If yes, help is on the way. Well, being a doctor is a virtuously rewarding profession and entails a lot of responsibilities. But does it mean at the cost of grueling work hours and completing after-hour diaries? Not really. You can take help from medical scribes to document patient visits. Read on to find out more.
Work-life balance of doctors
For a doctor, at times, work-life balance may seem like a foreign concept. Doctors cited the paperwork they were required to complete and taking unfinished charts home as reasons for feeling out of balance. Is work-life balance possible for doctors? Research says that it isn't just possible, it is essential. A study by Sandy L Robertson, Mark D Robinson, & Alfred Reid in the year 2017 found that 85% of the doctors feel that EHRs threw their work-life balance out of whack. Most importantly, doctors who spent outside of normal clinic hours on EHR work, reported less satisfaction with work-life balance. Demanding workload was also pointed out as one of the reasons for being unable to balance their work and life priorities. A large workload, especially not related to seeing patients - heavy paperwork or administrative demands can greatly affect doctors' work-life balance. Well, is work-life balance ever possible for them? Yes, taking help from medical scribes to alleviate the paperwork burden is one suggested solution to strike a perfect balance between work and family life.
Are doctors willing to go on a pay cut to restore their work-life balance?
We know that doctors are the highest paid professionals in the nation. No matter how big their pay check is they are willing to take a substantial pay cut of $20,000 per annum for a better work-life balance and more time with family. They feel it's worth it. A Medscape survey conducted among 15,000 doctors in over 29 specialties found it was pretty true across generations. 52% of millennials, 48% of Generation X and 49% of Boomers were willing to accept a lesser pay in exchange for more free time. Majority of millennials are placing more emphasis on work-life balance after witnessing the serious effects of burnout among their colleagues and family members. A higher percentage of female doctors (53%) agreed to take a pay reduction as opposed to 47% of their male counterparts. It was noted that about a third of each generational group was willing to forgo from $10,001 to $20,000 to achieve a balance between their personal and professional lives. However, baby boomers were willing to forgo from $20,001 to $50,000 because their earnings were high or probably because they were planning for their retirement life.
Can scribes help restore balance in doctors' lives?
Doctors are literally crying out for more personal time. But does work-life balance for doctors really exist? Yes, it does. Striving to maintain balance is a thing of the past. Restoring work-life balance is made possible by documentation experts - the medical scribes. The use of medical scribes can help doctors cut back hours on documentation and find a balance between the two worlds. With virtual medical scribes performing real-time documentation in the EHR, charts are ready by the time the patient leaves the exam room. This simply means that there is no need to spend time in the EHRs after each patient visit or chart outside of clinic hours. Doctors can leave home early and enjoy some quality family time and unwind.
Today, doctors believe it is crucial to balance work with personal time and family. Not being able to achieve this balance will invariably lead to burnout and reduced quality of life. That is why doctors are willing to take even a pay cut for less work hours and a better work-life balance. Long work hours and spending after-clinic hours on documentation resulted in a loss of work-life balance. Medical scribes are one proposed solution to work-life balance issues faced by doctors. In short, scribes can reduce documentation burden and help run the medical practice in a better manner so that doctors can lead their best lives as well. To hire the best in class medical scribes get in touch with Scribe4Me, today.
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Documentation is an important daily clinical responsibility. In order to optimize patient care, physicians are always on the lookout for new ways to effectively and efficiently document patient visits.
The use of virtual medical scribes has become increasingly popular in the recent years, as medical practices across the country are on the constant lookout for ways to reduce clinical documentation overload, thereby improving overall productivity.
The clerical burden associated with EHR usage is attributed as the number one cause of physician burnout. We also know that physicians spend twice as much time on EHRs and other clerical tasks compared to the time providing patient care.
