Q&A: Artificial intelligence may help mitigate physician burnout

Much of physician burnout is driven by administrative tasks, but technology, particularly artificial intelligence, may alleviate that burden.

At least, this is the vision of Catherine Estrampes, president and CEO of the medical technology company GE Healthcare, U.S. and Canada.

Healio has previously covered research demonstrating the potential benefits of novel technology in the health care setting, which may help surgeons improve their skills, primary care physicians screen for eating disorders and even assist in the delivery of cognitive behavioral therapy.

“Today’s health care workforce is both extremely valuable and vulnerable, threatened by burnout, turnover and clinician vacancies,” Estrampes told Healio. “There is an urgent need to use AI to create efficiencies and deliver insights that alleviate the heavy data and workload burdens for clinicians.”

In this Q&A, Estrampes spoke with Healio about what kind of technology is available, how physicians can use it to relieve pressures and more.

Healio: Can you discuss the impact that burnout has on physicians and hospital systems?

Estrampes: The past 2 years have been very challenging on the world’s health care workforce. COVID-19 only compounded the emotional, physical and mental strain on a population that was already reporting burnout, and this trend accelerated dramatically among doctors in the United States: up to 63% of physicians surveyed reported at least one symptom of burnout at the end of 2021, compared to 44% in 2017. As burnout rates increase, so does turnover, and this is becoming one the most critical issues in health care. Since 2020, between 20% to 30% of U.S. health care workers have left the industry. For the first time in 17 years, staffing shortages are the top concern for hospital CEOs, and hospital systems are looking for ways to decrease the burden on health care workers while making the most of existing resources and staff.

Healio: How can technology relieve the pressures of burnout, particularly relating to the administrative duties that physicians perform and have said is a contributor?

Estrampes: Many clinicians blame an abundance of tasks, such as contacting, coordinating and following up with patients about their appointments and health issues, as the main culprit for their stress and fatigue. These problems have been exacerbated by the pandemic, as clinicians grapple with an influx of patients suffering from COVID-19, and the worsening condition of patients who have postponed routine visits for several months. Clinicians report spending more time with IT systems — for example, electronic medical records — than with patients. How can we fix this? Make the data work for them, instead of them working for the data. Automation, AI and other digital technologies can automate administrative tasks and help synthesize data to make it more meaningful for physicians so they can spend less time in front of a computer and more time with their patients. However, these tools are only helpful if they don’t create additional steps for the clinician. The most effective AI is invisible, integrated and embedded in existing clinical workflows so that the technology works for you and not the other way around.

Healio: You have worked to implement new digital tools to reduce pressures. What kind of technology have you worked with? How does it help providers?

Estrampes: At GE Healthcare, we’re working closely with health care providers to unlock the potential of AI to free up caregivers’ time and mental energy to focus on more meaningful tasks. One solution we’ve seen implemented successfully is our Command Center, which connects, integrates and analyzes data in a department or at a health care system level to help improve hospital patient flow and efficiency. Health systems and hospitals have deployed Command Center software to integrate intelligence into existing workflows, helping them to improve outcomes through better proactive capacity management and optimization of the patient journey.

Healio: How have you seen providers use technology to reduce burnout?

Estrampes: One hospital that has effectively used Command Center technology to reduce burnout at Tampa General Hospital (TGH) in Florida. TGH reduced system-wide inefficiencies with a set of real-time ‘Tiles’ that sift through the data to help providers identify the bottlenecks, risks and barriers related to resources, patients and personnel. Those timely insights and alerts point to the available actions that hospital staff can take to avert delays in the patient journey. The breakthrough technology ingests dozens of messages each second from disparate source systems, fuses that into a longitudinal data model, applies AI, and serves new insights to users every 30 seconds, but what’s more important is the time it saves frontline clinicians during their daily routine. At TGH, they’re saving 13,500 minutes each day during the huddles that determine which patients can be downgraded (such as from critical to serious) and interdisciplinary team rounds. That’s 82,000 hours that clinicians have for more impactful work each year.

Healio: How do you think incorporating technology into primary care practices would benefit them?

Estrampes: Unlocking the potential of AI can free up caregivers’ time and mental energy to focus on more meaningful tasks. That’s why GE Healthcare is working closely with health care providers to achieve a digital transformation that prioritizes workforce stability, productivity, outcomes and well-being, and working on developing solutions that help save valuable caregiver time, resulting in a cascade of benefits for patients, providers and the hospital system.

Healio: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Estrampes: At GE Healthcare, we recognize the growing need to ensure each health care provider’s digital transformation accounts for and fully leverages the true value of data — its power to improve the care delivery journey for not only patients, but for caregivers as well.

References:

• Shanafelt TD, et al. Mayo Clin Proc. 2022;doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2022.09.002.
• Study: Clinical support staff burnout linked to patient communication challenges. https://wellapp.com/resource/study-clinical-support-staff-burnout-linked-to-patient-communication-challenges/#staff-burnout-study-cta. Accessed Oct. 10, 2022.
• Too little, too late: 500K nurses are leaving the bedside by the end of 2022. https://www.benefitnews.com/news/nurses-are-planning-to-quit-their-jobs-if-their-needs-arent-met-post-pandemic. Accessed Oct. 10, 2022.
• Top issues confronting hospitals in 2021. https://www.ache.org/learning-center/research/about-the-field/top-issues-confronting-hospitals/top-issues-confronting-hospitals-in-2021. Published Feb. 4, 2022. Accessed Oct. 10, 2022.
• Willard-Grace R, et al. Ann Fam Med. 2019;doi:10.1370/afm.2338.