Want to Fix Healthcare and Stop Burnout? Speed Up Innovation & Let the Front Lines Slow Down

Ten years ago this week I packed my bags and left NYC to come back home to Toronto. ?I arrived at the same hospital just a few blocks from where I used live to before I left for the US a dozen years prior. Now, 10 yrs later I no longer do 42 clinical weeks/yr as a hospitalist at Trillium Health Partners Credit Valley Hospital anymore, but am fortunate to still have a place here. One day this week I stopped in briefly and while there saw just one patient.

It happened to be the patient's birthday, and I had some interesting reflections. I was unrushed, completely focused on the patient, and able to be my best self as a doctor. I had more time to think, could double check my work, looked into some new research related to the patient's condition,?was able to spend more time with the patient, could fully articulate the condition to the family, communicate properly with other consultants, and assure the best possible outcome for my patient. Ultimately I sent discharged him home?and his family was very pleased.?

And I too left feeling refreshed, happy, and fulfilled with a sense gratitude to be part of the important field of healthcare.?

And to have this essentially perfect physician/patient experience, I was also lucky to have a kind patient, a grateful family, positive interactions with other specialists and hospital staff, an ability to quickly see some key records from the nursing home and other?specialists the day prior, a case that was challenging but not an overly stressful one, and lastly a positive outcome.

There is a Princeton “Good Samaritan” study where a group of students were?prompted to stop to help a stranger in need by the side of the road. What was the most influential factor as to whether someone stopped to help? How much of a hurry?they were in.?

The answer of course is not to see one patient per day, but recognize that the burnout and exit of physicians and many health professionals from the field across the US, Canada, and the globe is largely a function of working in systems where we are so rushed and thus cannot experience the full joy that this field can potentially offer. And what’s worse, is that this drive to increase throughput paradoxically leads to worse outcomes for patients, lower patient satisfaction, and higher downstream costs on the system.?

I think we all know this, but the experience offers hope that we can create an incredible health system for all. Though much has to change. Innovation at all levels will be key, from policy makers, to administrators, to payers, to clinicians, to discharge planners, to non-profits?and private enterprises serving healthcare, and much more. Everyone has to contribute.

Whether its?taking a chance on value based care models, tweaking how you perform your admission process, or opening your mind to AI in medicine, innovation is the only way to change our system. We cant move at a turtle pace and lack receptiveness to doing things differently, and expect to have any meaningful change in our system. And what I’ve learned is that it just takes one close minded blocker of innovation to disrupt the process of change and keep us stuck in a broken system.

So the lesson is that we paradoxically need to have the courage to SPEED UP our innovation process and adopt change faster in order to create a system that allows us front line workers an opportunity to SLOW DOWN to serve patients best.

Throw in a little extra kindness at all levels including from patients, families, and providers, and more collaboration from everyone within and across organizations, and we can replicate the perfect patient-clinician experience every time and make healthcare a great place to work.

Vipan Nikore, MD, MBA, FACP, is a former software developer turned physician leader. He is the CEO of Homecare Hub , Chief Medical Director of TD Bank, an Internal Medicine Physician at the Cleveland Clinic & Trillium Health Partners, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. His posts are personal views and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of any of the organizations he represents.