It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get in to see your primary care provider, same day or even same week. And forget about seeing most specialists anytime soon. Waits for appointments have gone from weeks to months. Could fewer clinicians be a source of the problem?

It could indeed, and it will only get worse due to burnout among clinicians according to a new report put out by consultancy firm Bain & Company. “A Treatment for America’s Healthcare Worker Burnout” shares the results and analysis of Bain’s U.S. Frontline of Healthcare survey of nearly 600 physicians, nurses and advanced practice providers, conducted in July 2022.

The survey results point to a tight labor market growing even tighter, with fully 25% of clinicians considering leaving the profession altogether. Coming off of two extremely difficult pandemic years, the vast majority of clinicians (89%) who are contemplating a career change point to burnout as the biggest reason. Adding to these alarming statistics, the report cites a further 33% of clinicians are planning to change their employers.

Beyond burnout, clinicians note their dissatisfaction with the following issues:

  • About 40% say they lack the resources needed to work to their highest potential, including effective processes and workflows, supplies, and equipment.
  • Approximately 59% don’t believe their teams have enough staff.

What are clinicians looking for? The report states that clinicians want “better compensation, support to deliver high-quality patient care, a more manageable workload, flexible work arrangements, and more clinically focused job responsibilities.”

These trends should concern all of us as healthcare consumers. Millions of people could be affected (if they haven’t been already) through no fault of their own. Some who simply cannot afford to wait on their health issues will turn to alternatives such as urgent care and the ER. But unfortunately, these sources of care will also be affected by staff shortages.

As 83bar discovered in our recent survey of healthcare consumers, fewer clinicians has other impacts. It often means less time spent with each patient. That, in turn, can result in less time devoted to educating patients about a range of healthcare options.

This gap in health care is reflected in answers to our survey about people’s general health, experience with doctors, access to health information, routine care options and the opportunities they have to participate in clinical studies. We’ve summarized and analyzed these results in a report called the Patient Pulse.

We found a number of responses indicating dissatisfaction with doctor-patient engagement. For example, the majority of respondents indicated that they are:

  • Often unable to say what they need to say to doctors
  • Considering getting a second opinion
  • Not receiving recommendations from their healthcare providers to participate in research studies

83bar can help address these deficits by establishing a direct connection with healthcare consumers who can benefit from clinical research studies or approved products or treatments.  Through this connection, we offer digital as well as empathetic, person-to-person engagement to:

  • Share information about diseases and conditions
  • Listen to what consumers’ have to say about their health issues
  • Educate them about our clients’ clinical studies and prepare them to participate

This process of “activation” of healthcare consumers has another positive effect, this time on the clinician side. It creates efficiencies for overworked healthcare providers because appointments with educated, motivated consumers go much more smoothly.

To learn more about our Patient Activation Platform, visit our website or schedule a call with our experts.