The research by HIMSS and Nuance explored the impact of the pandemic on more than 400 clinicians across ten countries. While causes of stress and levels of stress varied among different health professionals, clinician burnout was an almost universal experience. The results were then published in a white paper called “From overload to burnout: What clinicians think”. 

The report found that burnout has been on the rise for a while, but over the last year, healthcare systems worldwide have been pushed to breaking point. Services that were overstretched and under-resourced have been put under never-before-seen levels of strain. And individuals at the heart of these systems are feeling the pressure most.

What is driving this level of burnout?

Healthcare professionals identified a range of factors from excessive administrative burdens to a lack of control over working days and poor renumeration models, which contributed to the overload.  One area highlighted as a key contributor to burnout by 82% of all participating doctors and 73% of all participating nurses was clinical documentation and the processes that surround it.

Comments provided during the survey indicated that remote consultations, which come with higher risks, more diagnostic uncertainty, and increased requirements from an administration perspective, added to an already heavy workload.

Reducing the risk of burnout

Factors which reduced the risk of stress, included a collaborative leadership style, reliable work plans and efficient administrative processes. A collaborative leadership style, where management teams responded to changing demands and equipped those on the frontline with the right tools and information was found to reduce the risk of stress. 

Reliable work plans helped ensure certainty over shift patterns and responsibilities, which could help bring order to chaos, but these plans were hard to achieve in the pandemic. Efficient administrative processes also helped reduce stress. As workloads increased, the need for systems and processes, which reduced the administrative burden, grew.

The role of modern technologies

The report also looked into the use of technology in healthcare, concluding that, “It has huge potential to reduce the burden of time spent on routine-based and documentation-based tasks. This gives clinicians more time to focus on the most essential task: providing help and guidance to their patients”.

According to Nuance, their AI-powered speech recognition solution Dragon Medical One, enables clinicians to produce documentation up to 45% faster, whilst capturing up to 20% more relevant data. They say this enables clinicians to deliver real-time documentation at the point of care, allowing staff to spend less time doing administrative tasks and more time delivering improved patient outcomes.

Increased workloads and stress levels brought on by the pandemic are having an enormous impact on healthcare professionals around the world. This new survey highlights the fact that those who have traditionally protected others may need support themselves. Modern technologies, such as AI-powered speech recognition, could help change the game when it comes to clinical documentation, relieving some of the administrative burdens and helping to reduce burnout levels throughout the sector.