The Association Between a Sense of Calling and Physician Well-Being: A National Study of Primary Care Physicians and Psychiatrists

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Yoon ◽  
Brendan M. Daley ◽  
Farr A. Curlin
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Well Being ◽  
National Study

scholarly journals Prepared and highly committed despite the risk of COVID-19 infection: a cross-sectional survey of primary care physicians’ concerns and coping strategies in Singapore

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerrald Lau ◽  
David Hsien-Yung Tan ◽  
Gretel Jianlin Wong ◽  
Yii-Jen Lew ◽  
Ying-Xian Chua ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Stress Management ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pandemic Preparedness ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
And Coping

Abstract Background Primary care physicians (PCPs) are first points-of-contact between suspected cases and the healthcare system in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines PCPs’ concerns, impact on personal lives and work, and level of pandemic preparedness in the context of COVID-19 in Singapore. We also examine factors and coping strategies that PCPs have used to manage stress during the outbreak. Methods Two hundred and sixteen PCPs actively practicing in either a public or private clinic were cluster sampled via email invitation from three primary care organizations in Singapore from 6th to 29th March 2020. Participants completed a cross-sectional online questionnaire consisting of items on work- and non-work-related concerns, impact on personal and work life, perceived pandemic preparedness, stress-reduction factors, and personal coping strategies related to COVID-19. Results A total of 158 questionnaires were usable for analyses. PCPs perceived themselves to be at high risk of COVID-19 infection (89.9%), and a source of risk (74.7%) and concern (71.5%) to loved ones. PCPs reported acceptance of these risks (91.1%) and the need to care for COVID-19 patients (85.4%). Overall perceived pandemic preparedness was extremely high (75.9 to 89.9%). PCPs prioritized availability of personal protective equipment, strict infection prevention guidelines, accessible information about COVID-19, and well-being of their colleagues and family as the most effective stress management factors. Conclusions PCPs continue to serve willingly on the frontlines of this pandemic despite the high perception of risk to themselves and loved ones. Healthcare organizations should continue to support PCPs by managing both their psychosocial (e.g. stress management) and professional (e.g. pandemic preparedness) needs.

scholarly journals Lifestyle Medicine Around the World: Lifestyle Medicine in Israel

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-381
Author(s):  
Lilach Malatskey ◽  
Igal Hekselman ◽  
Shani Afek
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Noncommunicable Disease ◽  
Active Member ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Lifestyle Medicine

In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control in the United States declared that 7 of 10 deaths per year are caused by chronic diseases; in Israel, the situation is consistent with this assessment. Healthy Israel 2020, an Israeli Ministry of Health initiative, places physicians at the forefront of health promotion and preventive medicine. In 2012, the Israeli Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ISLM) was established under the auspices of the Israel Association for Family Physicians. This decision was taken because we, the authors, wanted to promote change in the primary care services through the recruitment of key leaders for implementation of lifestyle medicine (LM), including improved attitudes, knowledge, motivation, and skills of primary care physicians and health providers. Today, the ISLM is an active member of the Israeli Medical Association, promoting educational activities, physician’s health, and well-being initiatives; developing tools for health-promoting clinics; and more. Our future plans are to incorporate LM as an integral part of daily practice in all sectors of the medical profession in Israel. This is challenging, but we see this as the only way to effectively combat the noncommunicable disease epidemic.

scholarly journals Working Conditions in Primary Care: A Qualitative Interview Study with Physicians in Sweden Informed by the Effort-Reward-Imbalance Model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Nilsen ◽  
Hanna Fernemark ◽  
Ida Seing ◽  
Kristina Schildmeijer ◽  
Carin Ericsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Effort Reward Imbalance ◽  
Reward Imbalance ◽  
Eri Model

Abstract Background: Many problems with primary care physicians’ psychosocial working conditions have been documented. Many studies on working condition have used the Effort-Reward-Imbalance (ERI) model, which posits that poor health and well-being may result from imbalances between the level of effort employees perceive that they put into their work and the rewards they receive. The model has not been used in qualitative research or applied to investigate primary care physicians’ working conditions. The aim of this study was to apply the ERI model to explore the perceived efforts and rewards by primary care physicians in Sweden and approaches they take to cope with potential imbalances between these efforts and rewards.Methods: The study has a qualitative design, using semi-structured interviews. A purposeful sampling strategy was used to achieve a heterogeneous sample of primary care physicians who represented a broad spectrum of experiences and perceptions. We recruited 21 physicians; 15 were employed in public health care and 6 by private health care companies.Results: The analysis of the interviews yielded 11 sub-categories: 6 were mapped to the efforts category, 3 were attributed to the rewards category and 2 were approaches to coping with effort/reward imbalances. Many of the statements concerned efforts in the form of high workload, restricted autonomy and administrative work burden. They also perceived resource restrictions, unpredictability of work and high expectations in their role as physicians as efforts. Three reward factors emerged; the physicians found their job to be stimulating and meaningful, and the work climate to be supportive. The physicians coped with imbalances by means of job enrichment and using decisional latitude.Conclusions: This study of primary care physicians suggests a lack of reciprocity in terms of high costs and low gains, providing a plausible explanation for work stress and associated consequences that have been shown in previous primary care research. We found the ERI model to be useful to explore physicians’ primary care work and working conditions and to identify effort and reward factors as well as approaches to managing effort/reward imbalances of relevance for their job satisfaction.

Neurosurgical manpower: the physician's viewpoint

1982 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 609-614
Author(s):  
Clark Watts ◽  
Robert C. Mendenhall ◽  
Stephen E. Radecki ◽  
Roger A. Girard
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
National Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fine Print

✓ This paper reports a national study of physicians in 24 medical and surgical specialties, and reveals the opinions of neurosurgeons and their professional colleagues with regard to the adequacy of the supply of neurosurgical manpower. Among neurosurgeons, 30.4% believe the supply to be excessive, 60.1% think it is about right, 7.5% believe that there is a shortage, and 2.0% have no opinion. Neurologists' opinions do not differ significantly from those of neurosurgeons, but physicians and surgeons in 22 other specialties are significantly less likely to regard the supply as excessive, and are more likely to perceive a shortage. Primary care physicians, as a group, are most likely to perceive a shortage, and least likely to indicate an excess. Among the 24 specialties studied, 9.3% of physicians believe the supply of neurosurgeons to be excessive, 55.1% think it is about right, 22.9% believe that there is a shortage, and 12.8% have no opinion.

The Prevalence of Late-Lifedepression and Physicians’ Attitude Toward it in Primary Care Settings of China

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
S. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Older People ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Geriatric Depression Scale ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Late Life Depression ◽  
Primary Care Settings

Late-life depression is associated with physical and psychological comorbidity, functional and cognitive impairment, and increased mortality due to suicide and other causes. However, studies in the west show that the identification of depression in older people is problematic and consequently the illness is underdiagnosed and undertreated. We investigated the prevalence of late-life depression and physicians’ attitude toward it in primary care settings of China.The survey was performed in urban primary care settings of Hangzhou, China. 1000 patients aged ≥ 55 years and 300 primary care physicians were recruited, of which 689 patients and 247 physicians provided complete data. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30) was used for investigating the prevalence of late-life depression in patients, and the Depression Attitude Questionnaire (DAQ) for investigating physicians’ attitudes and knowledge about depression.Of the 689 patients, 23.4% (n=161) scored ≥ 11 on the GDS-30, including 3% (n=21) who scored ≥ 21. Among the physicians, 72% (n=178) endorsed that “Becoming depressed is a natural part of being old”, and 70% (n=173) of them thought “Working with depressed patients is heavy going”; in their clinical practice. Only 6.6% of physicians prescribed anti-depressants.Primary care physicians in China are ill prepared to diagnose and treat depression in older adults, which presents at high rates in primary care clinics. How to improve their attitudes and clinical practice is crucial to the well-being of older people in China.

scholarly journals A Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Primary Care Physicians: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Schroeder ◽  
Elizabeth Stephens ◽  
Dharmakaya Colgan ◽  
Matthew Hunsinger ◽  
Dan Rubin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Randomized Controlled Trial ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
The Impact

Primary care physicians experience high rates of burnout, which results in diminished quality of life, poorer quality of care, and workforce attrition. In this randomized controlled trial, our primary aim was to examine the impact of a brief mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on burnout, stress, mindfulness, compassion, and resilience among physicians. A total of 33 physicians completed the baseline assessment and were randomized to the Mindful Medicine Curriculum (MMC; n = 17) or waitlist control group (n = 16). Participants completed self-report measures at baseline, post-MBI, and 3-month follow-up. We also analyzed satisfaction with doctor communication (DCC) and overall doctor rating (ODR) data from patients of the physicians in our sample. Participants in the MMC group reported significant improvements in stress (P < .001), mindfulness (P = .05), emotional exhaustion (P = .004), and depersonalization (P = .01) whereas in the control group, there were no improvements on these outcomes. Although the MMC had no impact on patient-reported DCC or ODR, among the entire sample at baseline, DCC and ODR were significantly correlated with several physician outcomes, including resilience and personal achievement. Overall, these findings suggest that a brief MBI can have a positive impact on physician well-being and potentially enhance patient care.

scholarly journals Reducing Primary Care Provider Burnout With Pharmacist-Delivered Comprehensive Medication Management

2020 ◽  
pp. 155982762097653
Author(s):  
Nicole White
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Medication Management ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Medical Specialty ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Care System ◽  
Physician Perspectives ◽  
Team Based Care

Primary care physicians have among the highest rates of burnout of any medical specialty in the United States. Team-based care is an organizational approach to meet the increasing demands on the primary care system, including the well-being of its providers. Physicians report that pharmacist-delivered comprehensive medication management improves patient care efficiency, decreases workload and provides additional work-based social support, among other benefits. Physician perspectives as well as resources for implementing physician-pharmacist collaborations are discussed.

scholarly journals Improving Well-Being Among Trainees: A Partnership to Reduce Barriers to Primary Care Services

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-207
Author(s):  
Christelle Tan ◽  
Catherine Kuhn ◽  
John Anderson ◽  
Alexander Borun ◽  
David A. Turner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Primary Care Services ◽  
Survey Results

ABSTRACT Background Improved well-being is a focus for graduate medical education (GME) programs. Residents and fellows often express difficulty with visiting primary care physicians, and this issue has not been thoroughly investigated. Objective We reported implementation and utilization of a primary care concierge scheduling service and a primary care video visit service for GME trainees. Methods GME leaders collaborated with Duke Primary Care to offer trainees a concierge scheduling service and opportunity for primary care video visits. This quantitative evaluation included (1) analysis of the institutional GME survey results pre- and post-intervention, and (2) review of use of the concierge scheduling line. Results Comparison of the 2018 and 2019 internal GME surveys showed a decrease in perceived barriers accessing primary care (58% to 31%, P &lt; .0001), a decrease in perceived delays to access primary care (27% to 21%, P = .023), and an increase in respondents who reported needing health care services in the past year (37% to 62%, P &lt; .0001). Although increased need for health services was reported, there was no difference in the proportion reporting use of health services (63% and 65%, P = .43). Of the 142 concierge line calls reviewed, 127 (87%) callers requested clinic appointments, and 15 (10%) callers requested video appointments. Of callers requesting clinic appointments, 99 (80%) were scheduled. Conclusions Providing resources to connect trainees to primary care greatly reduces their perception of barriers to health care and may provide a convenient mechanism to schedule flexible primary care appointments.

scholarly journals Working conditions in primary care: a qualitative interview study with physicians in Sweden informed by the Effort-Reward-Imbalance model

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Nilsen ◽  
Hanna Fernemark ◽  
Ida Seing ◽  
Kristina Schildmeijer ◽  
Carin Ericsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Qualitative Interview Study ◽  
Effort Reward Imbalance ◽  
Reward Imbalance ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Eri Model

Abstract Background Many problems with primary care physicians’ psychosocial working conditions have been documented. Many studies on working condition have used the Effort-Reward-Imbalance (ERI) model, which posits that poor health and well-being may result from imbalances between the level of effort employees perceive that they put into their work and the rewards they receive. The model has not been used in qualitative research or applied to investigate primary care physicians’ working conditions. The aim of this study was to apply the ERI model to explore the perceived efforts and rewards by primary care physicians in Sweden and approaches they take to cope with potential imbalances between these efforts and rewards. Methods The study has a qualitative design, using semi-structured interviews. A purposeful sampling strategy was used to achieve a heterogeneous sample of primary care physicians who represented a broad spectrum of experiences and perceptions. We recruited 21 physicians; 15 were employed in public health care and 6 by private health care companies. Results The analysis of the interviews yielded 11 sub-categories: 6 were mapped to the efforts category, 3 were attributed to the rewards category and 2 were approaches to coping with effort/reward imbalances. Many of the statements concerned efforts in the form of high workload, restricted autonomy and administrative work burden. They also perceived resource restrictions, unpredictability of work and high expectations in their role as physicians as efforts. Three types of rewards emerged; the physicians found their job to be stimulating and meaningful, and the work climate to be supportive. The physicians coped with imbalances by means of job enrichment and using decisional latitude. Conclusions Primary care physicians perceive numerous types of efforts in their job, which is consistent with research concerning work stress and associated consequences, such as poor subjective health and well-being. There are also rewards according to primary care physicians, but the findings suggest a lack of reciprocity in terms of efforts and rewards although firm conclusions cannot be drawn since the study did not investigate the magnitude of the various efforts and rewards or the effectiveness of the approaches the physicians use to cope with imbalances. The ERI model was found to be useful to explore physicians’ primary care work and working conditions but its applicability likely depends on the type of work or professions being studied.

scholarly journals Prepared and highly committed despite the risk of COVID-19 infection: A cross-sectional survey of primary care physicians’ concerns and coping strategies in Singapore

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerrald Lau ◽  
David Hsien-Yung Tan ◽  
Gretel Jianlin Wong ◽  
Yii-Jen Lew ◽  
Ying-Xian Chua ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Primary Care Physicians ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pandemic Preparedness ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
And Coping

Abstract:BACKGROUNDPrimary care physicians (PCPs) play a crucial role as first points-of-contact between suspected cases and the healthcare system in the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. An overlooked angle is the potential psychosocial impact on PCPs as they place themselves at increased risk of infection. This study examines PCPs’ concerns, impact on personal lives and work, and level of pandemic preparedness in the context of COVID-19 in Singapore. We also examine factors and coping strategies that PCPs have used to manage stress during the outbreak.METHODS216 PCPs actively practicing in either a public or private clinic were convenience sampled from three primary care organizations in Singapore. Participants completed an online questionnaire consisting of items on work- and non-work-related concerns, impact on personal and work life, perceived pandemic preparedness, stress-reduction factors, and personal coping strategies related to COVID-19.RESULTSA total of 158 questionnaires were usable for analyses. PCPs perceived themselves to be at high risk of COVID-19 infection, and a source of risk and concern to loved ones. PCPs reported acceptance of these risks and the need to care for COVID-19 patients. Overall perceived pandemic preparedness was extremely high. PCPs prioritized availability of personal protective equipment, strict infection prevention guidelines, accessible information about COVID-19, and well-being of their colleagues and family as the most effective stress management factors.CONCLUSIONSPrimary care will continue to be crucial in outbreak management efforts. Healthcare organizations should continue to support PCPs by managing their psychosocial and professional needs.

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