Reference no: EM133289797

Assignment:

Please answer THE BULLET POINT QUESTIONS BELOW:

Apply core principles of SYSTEMS THINKING to your workplace issue that may impact the future of your organization

Evaluate points in the system that might play a significant role in addressing your workplace issue that may impact the future of your organization. What are the feedback or leverage points that affect how the issue might be addressed?

What points need to be increased? What points lessened?

Please elaborate in detail and provide references if possible (Do not use my references)

Topic:

Examining the Burden of Administrative Tasks and its affect on Physicians and the Quality Patient Care

Organizational Issue:

The primary responsibility of physicians is to ensure that their patients receive the best possible medical care at all times. Among the many responsibilities that they have daily, there are administrative as well as clinical responsibilities. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of physicians left the industry, creating a huge vacancy in the industry when the number of patients and the need for quality healthcare were on the rise. Since February 2020, there has been an estimated loss of nearly half a million workers in the U.S. healthcare sector; this represents an eighteen percent decline in the number of healthcare workers who have left since the outbreak began (Masson, 2021).

There was a necessity for those physicians who remained to accept more patients, resulting in a heavy workload. These factors have resulted in a significant change in workplace dynamics, adversely impacting physicians in terms of equity in the workplace. While essential to day-to-day operations, administrative tasks have become highly burdensome in recent years, contributing to further issues in healthcare equity and negatively impacting healthcare delivery and quality. This administrative burden is correlated with burnout among physicians, which has led to a decrease in care quality and a global healthcare crisis.

Excessive administrative burdens negatively impact physicians during their duties. Due to administrative burdens, physicians are often forced to spend less time providing direct patient care. A recent study found that primary care physicians spent approximately 21.6% of their time performing administrative tasks, such as documenting and billing (Woolhandler & Himmelstein, 2014). In turn, physicians cannot spend as much time seeing and treating patients as they would like, resulting in disparities in the quality of health care they receive. Consider the situation in which clinicians are required to perform tasks that are not directly related to patient care. When this occurs, frustration and burnout may negatively affect the quality and quantity of care provided.

As administrative burdens have increased, physician burnout has been associated with decreased patient care. In order to provide solutions to the problem of physician burnout, recent research has examined qualitative and quantitative aspects. Excessive administrative burdens have plagued physicians in the healthcare system for decades (Shanafelt et al., 2010). A failure to address this issue could have catastrophic consequences for the healthcare community and the patients it seeks to serve. Consequently, the quality of care has deteriorated, and physicians are burnt out, contributing to the global health crisis.

My References:

Masson, G. (2021). About 1 in 5 healthcare workers have left medicine since the pandemic began - Here's why. Becker's Healthcare.

Woolhandler, S. & Himmelstein, D. U. (2014). Administrative work consumes one-sixth of U.S. physicians' working hours and lowers their career satisfaction. International Journal of Health Services, 44(4), 635-642.

Shanafelt, T. D., Balch, C. M, & Bechamps, G (2010). Burnout and Medical Errors Among American Surgeons. Annals of Surgery, 251(6), 995-1000.