AMA Ed Hub Featured CME – Ensuring Hospitalist Well Being
The AMA Ed Hub delivers learning opportunities on topics that matter to all involved in the art and practice of medicine. This featured learning module from STEPS ForwardTM focuses on hospitalists and burnout. The content shows how to identify drivers of hospital burnout, describes steps to help prevent burnout and improve wellness for hospitalists, and provides examples of successful hospitalist well-being programs in a variety of settings.
Hospital medicine is the fastest growing medical specialty in the United States.1 The clinical focus of hospital medicine is caring for hospitalized patients. Although not all hospitalists are required to be internists, the nature of internal medicine training uniquely prepares internists for hospital medicine practice. As a result, most hospitalists are trained in internal medicine, usually in general internal medicine. Hospital medicine grew out of the increasing complexity of patients requiring hospital care. By focusing their practice on this specific group of patients, hospitalists gain specialized knowledge in managing very ill patients and can provide high-quality, evidence-based, and efficient patient and family-centered care in hospital settings.2
Most physicians who choose to go into hospital medicine have an interest in taking care of sicker patients and/or improving inpatient hospital systems. However, hospital medicine comes with a unique set of stressors. Hospitalists are responsible for 24/7 care of patients and have atypical work schedules that can encroach upon personal and family time. They may be exposed to pressures that are discordant with their patient care goals, such as throughput, RVU generation, or coding.1,3 The relative youth of hospital medicine as a field, and of hospitalists themselves, presents challenges as well.
Five STEPS to Promote Joy in the Practice of Hospital Medicine
- Understand Burnout at Your Hospital
- Minimize Burnout and Maximize Engagement
- Promote Self-Care and Resilience
- Communicate Frequently With Each Other and Across Specialties
- Recognize and Reward
To see the complete learning module with references earn CME go to the AMA Ed HUB.
STEPS Forward™ presents actionable, practical toolkits and customizable resources that you can use to successfully implement meaningful and transformative change in your practice or organization.