a new one Report A small number of doctors and nurses around the world believe telehealth could undermine their efforts to show empathy for patients, study finds.
conclusion from a 15 minutes online polls 2,838 studies across 111 countries conducted by New York-based Elsevier Health. 1,691 doctors and 1,108 nurses participated in the survey. Additionally, the report draws on 60-minute discovery interviews with 23 healthcare leaders and three roundtable discussions with leaders in the UK, China and the US. The report explores attitudes towards technology adoption, current issues driving change, and provides predictions about what becoming a clinician might look like 10 years from now.
Working with patients to manage their health
First, according to the report, 56 percent of clinicians said they believe patients are now better equipped to address their own health problems than they have been in the past decade. This figure is similar to 62% of clinicians who said they saw the doctor-patient relationship transform into more partnerships over the next decade.
Technology plays an increasingly important role in this relationship. However, more than half (51%) of clinicians believe telemedicine can impair their ability to demonstrate empathy for patients, the report said. Despite this concern, respondents seem to believe that technology will play an increasingly important role in medicine. For example, 77% of respondents said they expect real-time patient analytics to be critical to the future of personalized care. Likewise, 43% expect patients to turn to genome sequencing to support disease prevention.
“When applied properly, technology can streamline inefficient workflows and highlight clinical insights, while data can help clinicians deliver better patient care,” said Hemalee Patel, Senior Medical Director, Chronic Care Management and Clinical Design Laboratory, One Medical Say. report, in email.
Patel added that remote patient monitoring blood pressure devices, continuous glucose monitors and pulse oximeters are just a few of the ways clinicians can provide real-time personalized care to their patients.
“This improves medical adherence and improves compliance and transparency between clinicians and patients,” she said. “Appropriate technical training is a key aspect of all of this. I agree with 83% of clinicians in the report [who] It is believed that training needs to be overhauled. “
Turn to holistic health
An overwhelming 79 percent said that not enough is being done for preventive care, the report said. For the patients they expected to treat, 71% said they expected an increase in non-communicable diseases, along with complications in younger patient groups.
In addition, over the next decade, clinicians are expected to adopt more preventive care approaches to protect physical and mental health, the report said. As a factor driving this shift, clinicians said they expected to work on a diverse and extended team, including specialists such as data analysts.
Technology is on the rise again
The report predicts that the pandemic has accelerated the use of technology in healthcare indications, a trend that is expected to continue over the next decade, pandemic or not. For example, 63% said they believe most consultations will be remote in 10 years. 56% expect to use artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools to make most decisions.
“While clinicians are certainly smart enough to adopt new technologies and incorporate them into their skill sets, they can’t be expected to ‘fly’ and build planes because patients’ lives are at risk,” said a nurse at Duke University’s School of Nursing, who said in a statement. contributed to the report in an email. “Therefore, involving clinicians in training will require compensation in terms of their time and effort. The days of clinician “armchair training” (i.e. reading journals, fire and safety training, etc.) that typically follow a long work day are over. Instead, development and training should be seen as an important part of the financial cost of quality care. “
While digital health is expected to continue to proliferate, 64% of clinicians express concern that digital technologies will exacerbate health inequalities.
Clinicians balance burnout
Clinicians work an average of 50 hours per week, the report said. Additionally, only 57% said they maintain a positive work-life balance. They think their characters are getting worse. Despite the challenges of balancing it all, 85% of clinicians say they enjoy their jobs.
“In addition to deepening pre-pandemic health disparities, Covid has exacerbated frontline workers,” said Leo Celi, director of clinical research and principal research scientist at MIT’s Laboratory of Computational Physiology (LCP) and attending physician specialist at Beth Israel Hospital. burnout.” Boston Deaconess Medical Center contributed to the report in an email. “As the population ages, the proportion with chronic diseases is expected to increase. Unless the workforce expands to address high burnout rates and shorter tenures, more tasks will need to be shifted to technologists and technology. This will require clinicians Guiding the redesign of workflows, a task that requires skills not taught in pharmacy, nursing or medical school.”
This balancing act is likely to continue, with 68% of clinicians expecting a shortage of physicians over the next decade and 74% of physicians expecting a shortage of nurses.
“Overall, clinician burnout and healthcare workforce shortages are very serious issues that we continue to face and are likely to get worse over time. In fact, the report found that nearly half of U.S. physicians and nurses Nearly half of them are expected to leave their jobs over the next 2-3 years, either by retirement or out of healthcare entirely.” Elsevier Health, in an email. “It’s also worth noting that the other half, while remaining in the healthcare industry, are planning to switch employers, which will increase competition for talent and cause disruption to the healthcare system.”
Given the expected shortage, Herzov made several proposals to address the problem, such as incentivizing new talent in the field. He also provides expanded educational opportunities and ensures that healthcare professionals receive continuing education on the latest technology and health data best practices as key steps.
Photos: Haslow, Getty Images; Graphics/Graphics: Elsevier Health
