Happy doctor

A Happy Workforce Makes a Happy Doctor

A happy doctor is a productive doctor. Learn how scribes can help your physicians find more satisfaction at work and in their lives.

 

Throughout a person’s life, if they are “happy” in what they are partaking in, they put more effort and value into what they are doing. A person’s employment is no different, as a recent study showed, finding that happy workers are 13% more productive than people that are not.[1] The researchers also found that happy workers did not work more hours than their discontented colleagues – they were simply more productive within their time at work.[2]

 

In healthcare specifically, it is essential for the medical team to work together and stay as productive as possible. To achieve those two vital components, happiness must be taken into account. However, approximately 41% of physicians from a wide variety of specialties couldn’t even say they are “somewhat happy” in the recent “Medscape Physician Lifestyle & Happiness Report 2022.”[3]

 

Various stressors are causing this statistic to worsen over the years, all of them contributing to poor work-life balance. For example, a large majority of physicians are online up to 10 hours per week for work, and the number of physicians spending 21 or more hours online for professional use increased from 2% in 2021 to 15% this year.[4]

 

This stressor, which continues to increase in its intensity of how it is affecting physicians, can be alleviated with the use of Medical Scribes. When a medical facility or hospital partners with a Medical Scribe company to bring in happy, highly trained, and motivated individuals to remove the electronic health record burden on doctors, it shows through with more efficient, happy medical staff, from doctors to the medical team they work with.

 

 

As one happy scribe noted, “I’ve been working for Scrivas for more than a year. Working as a scribe has been completely rewarding and totally worth it. I love every second of it. I will always thank this company for a year of what can be described as the best experience of my life. All the opportunities given solidified the passion I held and confirmed what I want to do for the rest of my life. I recommended Scrivas Scribes 100%”

– Omar Merinos, Emergency Department Scribe

 

When doctors feel like their voices are heard on the stressors that cause their unhappiness, it shows them they are valued and appreciated, which in turn helps them be more productive.

 

The defined relationship between work and happiness is a complex one as there are many factors in both aspects that need to be taken into consideration, although the increasing amount of research[5] is showing more and more that happiness itself can help shape outcomes from both the patients and medical staff inside the doctor’s office/hospital. This finding shows that being happy at work is not just a personal matter but also an economic one that healthcare leaders need to remember.

[1] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3470734

[2] https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2019-10-24-happy-workers-are-13-more-productive

[3] https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2022-lifestyle-happiness-6014665#3

[4] https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2022-lifestyle-happiness-6014665#13

[5] https://worldhappiness.report