Seventy-five percent of hospitals implement team-based care, but a new study finds a team-based delivery model does not reduce physician burnout, MedPage Today reported.
Researchers examined eight community, primary care clinics in a large Midwestern integrated delivery system, with four of those clinics implementing team care with a two-to-three physician-to-assistant ratio. After a year, the team-model showed a 35 percent burnout rate for physicians, compared to 30 percent for doctors practicing a more traditional one-to-one physician-to-clinical-assistant ratio.
While team-based providers did have lower burnout rates after three and six months, those findings reversed after a year. Unsure of what caused the turnaround, the researchers noted additional team-care research should look into the major drivers of burnout.
Working in care teams might not stave off physician burnout, but it's good for patients. New research showed teams involving cardiologists, nurses and pharmacists improved care for heart failure patients, according to another MedPage Today article.
In one study, 83 percent of the 46 heart failure patients enrolled in the pilot program achieved their self-care goals. And thanks to care teams, the total number of all-cause admissions in the pilot patients dropped 35 percent compared to those same patients in the same period last year.
Team-based care also benefits elderly patients. In fact, for three out of four common chronic conditions among the elderly, team-based care substantially increases the odds that seniors will receive recommended care, according to a July study published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society.
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- here are the articles on burnout and heart failure patients