MIAMI, Fla. – Long before COVID swept the nation, the medical profession was facing high levels of burnout marked by depression, substance abuse and suicide.
Industry experts say many have become more over-burdened by the administrative aspects of their jobs which takes away from direct patient care.
”Anyone who touches a patient, anyone who deals with patient care is, at a point in their life, right now where they’re being burdened whether it’s clerical or compliance or anything else that puts a barrier between them and their patients. That’s causing a huge level of professional dissatisfaction that means more people are leaving the profession that means we have to train more people to do these jobs,” said Dr. Fernando Mendoza, pediatric emergency room physician and CEO of Scrivas, a medical technology company.
Along with more peer to-peer and mental health support, Mendoza said hospital administrators can ease the bureaucratic burden with specialists called Scribes who directly assist professionals with patient data collection.
Fighting off COVID
And some good news on the battle against COVID, coming from the body’s own natural defense against the virus.
Scientists are getting a clearer picture of how antibodies produced in people who effectively fight off the virus actually work to neutralize the part of COVID-19 that causes infection.
The findings from the University of Texas Austin could help develop vaccines to fight variants of the virus in the future.