Paul DeChant is a family physician and health care consultant.

Caring for caregivers post-pandemic

Physician
May 27, 2021

Health care systems in the United States are beginning to emerge from the devastation of the pandemic. Since the existential threat of COVID-19 first hit in March of 2020 and the waves kept rolling across the country, doctors, nurses, and other clinicians put themselves and their families at risk to save others.

Clinicians were thrown into situations for which neither they nor their institutions were prepared. Like combat, the pandemic created …

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Caring for caregivers post-pandemic

Why do health care CEOs permit toxic workplaces?

Physician
January 3, 2018

Would patients be admitted, or people be allowed to come to work, in a hospital that had Legionnaires’ disease spreading through its HVAC system or cryptosporidium in its water supply?

When there is an unusual smell associated with headaches and nausea in a surgical unit or emergency department, do people continue to work there and show up for their next shift as though this is status quo?

Of course not.

Why is it …

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Why do health care CEOs permit toxic workplaces?

Can health care executives help with physician burnout?

Physician
August 18, 2017

The National Academy of Medicine has launched an Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience, but there is one missing stakeholder. On July 14th, NAM hosted its first public meeting on establishing clinician well-being as a national priority. The inaugural sponsors include nearly many medical specialty societies, the major insurance companies, the American Associations for hospitals, nurses, physicians and medical colleges, Johns Hopkins, Mass General and …

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Can health care executives help with physician burnout?

How does the EHR drive burnout? Let’s count the ways.

Tech
August 13, 2017

How does the EHR drive burnout? Let’s count the ways. By understanding this, we can develop countermeasures to lower the impact and reduce the risk of physician burnout.

We’ve all seen the studies that show that for every hour we spend with a patient, we spend two hours on administrative work, and we take hours of work home with us each night. But as we’ll see, it’s not all just about …

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How does the EHR drive burnout? Let’s count the ways.

Stop piling on physicians: The last straw in burnout

Physician
August 6, 2017

We are all familiar with the saying: “the last straw.” It refers to the fable of the camel who could carry heavy loads.

In the story, the camel is a beast of burden. Its owner, in an effort to transport as much straw as possible, keeps piling more and more on the camel’s back. Camels are strong and can handle a lot. But at some point, even the strongest camel will …

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Stop piling on physicians: The last straw in burnout

Lean provides a way to prevent physician burnout

Physician
December 18, 2015

Did you see this recent post on MedPage Today?  “Burnout: Is Medical School the Staging Area? Burnout prevention starts in medical school.”

The article describes important new work at the University of Chicago Pritzker School Of Medicine to improve medical student resilience.  It’s great to see medical schools addressing burnout and equipping students with valuable coping mechanisms.

As the post states, “One way to do this is to induce a greater resiliency …

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Lean provides a way to prevent physician burnout