For emergency room doctors, few things are more important than time. They're trained to work quickly and efficiently to gain the moments, minutes and hours that can be the difference between life or death for a patient. Yet, few ER doctors have the luxury of time in their personal lives.
According to a 2012 study, physicians' work weeks are roughly ten to 20 hours longer than that of other professionals. This means that it would take the average professional about a year and a half to accomplish what a hard-working physician does in a single year. With a schedule like this, it's no wonder that burnout is an issue for many physicians.
So, Stanford's Department of Emergency Medicine adopted a "time banking" program that allows doctors to log the time they spend doing often under-valued activities, such as mentoring and covering colleagues' shifts, to earn credits for the work and home-related services that would normally gobble up their free time.
Recently, the Washington Post highlighted this time-saving initiative in a story featuring emergency physician Gregory Gilbert, MD. "This gives me more bandwidth at work,” Gilbert said. “And because I can hang out with my kids and not be exhausted all the time, I’m able to be the kind of parent I’d always hoped to be.” From the Washington Post story:
Stanford’s time bank, part of a two-year, $250,000 pilot funded largely by the Sloan Foundation, showed big increases in job satisfaction, work-life balance and collegiality, in addition to a greater number of research grants applied for and a higher approval rate than Stanford faculty not in the pilot.
And for the first time, this year there are no openings for new fellows in the Department of Emergency Medicine. “All our spots have been retained,” Gilbert said. “There’s been no turnover.”
Previously: Surgeon offers his perspective on balancing life and work, Program for residents reflects “massive change” in surgeon mentality, Less burnout, better safety culture in hospitals with hands-on executives new study shows and Using mindfulness interventions to help reduce physician burnout
Photo by: mbgrigby
