While the benefits of working in rural medicine in a rural hospital ED are several, we would be remiss if we didn’t at least mention some of the challenges: inadequate staffing, lack of resources or support, difficulty recruiting, and higher turnover to name a few.
These are not insurmountable, however. Even though the number of on-site physicians is limited (perhaps to even one), support is available through the following means:
Like many professionals, physicians are fundamentally oriented toward optimizing “productivity.” This is partly due to the urgency of their work: when physicians are more productive, they provide care for more people who need it.
The single most important thing healthcare executives can do to impact productivity is to remove the key barriers clinicians face.
This may not be as simple as it sounds. In an article featured on the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) website, “4 Steps to Improving Physician Productivity,” SCP Chief Growth Officer Lisa Fry and SCP Chief Clinical Innovation Officer and Chief Medical Officer for the Virtual Clinical Medical Group, Dr. Stephen Nichols, discuss four steps for influencing improvement:
- Remove the common barriers to physician performance
- Select the right leadership
- Select the best way to measure your programs’ productivity and operational efficiencies
- Ensure incentive alignment
If your initiative addresses physicians’ and other clinicians’ concerns about workflow barriers, you have the opportunity to increase professional satisfaction, reduce turnover, and improve the hospital culture overall.
Discover how implementing these simple steps can impact your hospital’s top line via increased patient volume.
