The medical profession is one of the hardest yet most fulfilling careers. Saving human lives has no value, so it isn’t surprising that practitioners are always willing to go the extra mile for their patients.
Unfortunately, being such a selfless person does have its downsides. Many doctors are overworked, stressed out, and generally on the brink of burnout. As if that wasn’t enough, practitioners also have to deal with the trauma of losing a patient every once in a while.
Although you can’t change the basic job requirements, you can introduce specific measures to make employees’ lives easier. Specifically, you can improve day-to-day operations, create the right atmosphere, and show appreciation for their work.
1. Create homey atmosphere
Perhaps the best way to eliminate work-related stress is to create a more inviting atmosphere. As a manager, it’s your job to hire people who cannot only perform at a high level but also have a positive impact on others. The human factor is always important as it affects overall team morale and patient retention.
The first thing you need to address is your interior. Make sure that the entire office is in white or warm colors. Adding plants, paintings, and photos is always nice, but don’t overdo it. Try to create an interior where your patients and practitioners will feel comfortable, thus alleviating stress for everyone.
The next thing has to do with your onboarding. Even if a doctor comes highly recommended, you still need to consider what kind of impact this person will have on your existing team. Perhaps the best thing you can do is visit the practitioner’s previous workplace and ask about their dismissal. Even chatting with past colleagues can provide some valuable insights.
2. Ask for reasonable things
Although every clinic aims to maximize profits, some owners take this to the next level. Specifically, managers are much more willing to invest in the company’s marketing than to hire additional staff. As a result, they start taking in much more patients than they can admit, causing extreme mental and physical fatigue to the staff.
Even if your goals are entirely altruistic or you’re a public organization working on a limited budget, you still have to be reasonable regarding your expectations. You should always put your staff first (unless we’re talking about an emergency), as these people create the basis for your business.
3. Combine full-time and part-time staff
Every clinic should have a skeleton crew to tackle basic patient needs. After that, you can combine full-time and part-time workers according to your needs. Having a few freelancers on speed dial is always a welcome practice, as you never know when someone’s going to take maternity or sick leave.
Among other things, partnering up with part-timers will give you the necessary flexibility during emergencies and overbooking. Most importantly, your staff will know they’ll get a helping hand if something goes awry, thus alleviating potential stress.
4. Create award ceremonies
When we talk about awards in the medical field, most people think of large, state-wide. However, you can also use awards on a much smaller scale to pay homage to the company’s best performers. You can organize casual, annual meetings during which you can spend some quality time with your staff.
While these ceremonies might not be as spectacular as large medical gatherings in your state, they are still great for team bonding. In fact, you can use awards in a jovial manner to remember some of the craziest situations of the last year.
5. Offer free days
In an ideal world, your staff will work all year long, barring a few vacation days. However, in reality, they will likely take days off every once in a while for all sorts of reasons. With that in mind, you should always be ready to work without a full staff capacity.
By adopting such a mindset, it will be much easier to give your employees a break. In other words, you can offer mental health days to everyone close to burnout. These extra days are especially valuable to your top workers and will play a major role in keeping them in the foreseeable future.
6. Create specialized teams
One of the things that irks medical professionals is all the added duties. In particular, many practitioners hate doing administrative work and losing time on things that don’t directly affect patients’ well-being. Depending on the size of the clinic, your employees might have to do credentialing, drug purchases, and to participate in other activities.
The best way to circumvent this issue is by simply hiring additional, specialized teams. A good example is credentialing, an activity that many healthcare providers outsource. Of course, your ability to hire additional teams might hinge on your profits and the company’s size, but you should always look for ways to reduce practitioners’ duties.
Conclusion
Medical practitioners’ satisfaction goes hand-in-hand with their performance. So, by implementing these practices, not only do you ensure that the best employees stay with the company, but you can squeeze even more value from them.
Always remember that the quality of the work environment hinges on the owner and management. With that in mind, you are the one who has to improve conditions for everyone involved.