Fighting Front-End Staff Burnout Without Compromising Care

Recent data suggests that 88% of clinical support staff are experiencing significant burnout, and 63% say patients are noticing. Much of that burnout is being attributed to patient communication breakdowns, where clinical support staff must juggle a multitude of issues like patient intake forms, appointment scheduling, prescription refills, billing questions, etc. As a result of their burnout, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic, support staff may be rushing a patient or not as receptive to questions as they might be if they were feeling more engaged and less burnt out. For example, imagine a patient is met with a curt response to their first question at a provider’s office by the support staff. With so many of these overworked front-line healthcare workers noting that the communications process has contributed to their burnout, it’s imperative that providers streamline and improve that process for staff while still focusing on delivering exceptional patient experiences. First, it’s important the provider support staff personalize interactions with patients so they are more empowered to be their own advocates. However, clinical support staff should have the ability to easily integrate themselves into automated patient exchanges so more complex conversations (i.e. those that require more than context) are appropriately handled. Providers must think carefully about which self-service is a win-win for patients and staff and must avoid features that clearly just shift the burden with no benefit to the patient. Thirdly, it’s important to “partner with patients.” Opportunities where patients are “invited in” to share responsibilities with providers, such as providing detailed symptom descriptions, can help reduce front-end staff workload if implemented correctly and properly integrated into the provider’s broader digital health IT ecosystem. We need our technology to be ready to evolve to meet the changing needs of patients without burdening frontend staff.