“Workloads have become heavier the last several years thanks almost entirely to the arrival of electronic health records— detailed reports about a patient’s medical history and care. On average, nurses and doctors spend 50% of their workday treating the screen, not the patient, and that ‘increased documentation time’ associated with electronic health records can lead to burnout … The current system is pushing both doctors and nurses to the breaking point … [with] 44% of physicians feeling ‘burned out.’”
“Doctors, Nurses and the Paperwork Crisis That Could Unite Them”, NY Times article by Theresa Brown and Stephen Bergman, Dec. 31, 2019
Dr. Dwayne Gard, Chief Hospitalist, Savannah Memorial University Medical Center, made the observation that over the past 10 years, aggressive behavior toward doctors and nurses has become more pronounced. And the hospital culture of downplaying employee abuse is pervasive.
He sees the aggression as a breakdown in communication that isn’t necessarily the fault of patients and their families.
Rather, it is a sign of a health care system that is already complex and becoming more so, making it increasingly difficult for patients and their families to navigate the hospital system.
