in a new study published in Journal of General Internal Medicine, The researchers found that primary care physicians needed nearly 26.7 hours a day to provide guideline-recommended care.
The study, pioneered by Justin Porter, MD, of the University of Chicago School of Medicine, is titled “Revisiting the Time it Takes to Provide Adult Primary Care.” The study looked at a hypothetical group of 2,500 patients and how they were provided with guided care (eg, according to guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force). In addition to chronic and acute care, the categories studied included preventive care.
The results are shocking, showing that there are literally There are not enough hours of the day for physicians to adhere to all the recommendations set out for “ideal patient care,” especially when significant time challenges actually exist in real-world practice settings.
Dr. Potter explain: “There’s this disconnect between our trained care and the limitations of the clinic’s workday […] We have an ever-increasing set of guidelines, but clinics are not increasing proportionally. “
A doctor working on patient charts.
Medical practice is very different from its theoretical delivery. In real-time practice, physicians are often caught up in a multitude of tasks and inefficiencies that constantly distract from their workflow. One of the biggest time investments is charting. For years, electronic health record (EHR) systems have promised to speed up the mapping process, giving doctors the digital tools they need to map faster and more efficiently. However, many physicians often find these EHR systems more cumbersome than traditional written diagrams, forcing them to spend more time troubleshooting complex systems than actual patients.
Physicians have a lot of other things to do during the workday – dealing with insurance, calling patients back with results, handling patient inquiries, practice management with support staff, and more. The list is still growing.
After all, it is the patient who suffers the most.
Porter perfectly captures how patients feel about this conundrum: “If you survey patients about their frustrations with health care, you’ll often hear, ‘My doctor doesn’t spend time with me’ or ‘My doctor not follow up […] I think a lot of times this is interpreted as a lack of empathy, or a lack of willingness to take care of the patient. But the reality – for most doctors – is just a lack of time. “
In almost all cases, this has become a critical issue in nursing services. There is a severe shortage of doctors in much of the country (and the world).This means that doctors Yes Practice has very long patient rosters and even longer waiting lists every day. Additionally, this comes in the context of physicians’ increased accountability, adherence to new guidelines, and continued high patient satisfaction scores. In short, it’s a never-ending battle.
There is no doubt that healthcare organizations and policy leaders must recognize these problems and take steps to alleviate some of these pressures. Whether it’s funding access to more care or providing practices with more resources, changes must be implemented before this crisis makes recovery impossible.
