I remember that Mary Marys, Maryland was like tracking the condition of patients on paper charts. She also remembers the frustrations she had as the widespread adoption of EHR led to more challenges for her and her fellow doctors.
Augmented Intelligence (AI) – often referred to as artificial intelligence – is a common place in healthcare, so Dr. Pan isn’t too frustrated. Frankly, she is excited by how AI already supports people in her medical group and the possibility of lasting impact on the well-being of clinicians.
“We are a family doctor and chief navigator at Washington Permanente Medical Group,” said Dr. Pan, family doctor and chief navigator at Washington Permanente Medical Group. “Looking at these changes is very different than when electronic health records were first developed.”
That said, when EHR was first developed, they “didn’t have that clinician perspective in mind, but now, along with ambient AI, they really are,” she added.
Washington Permanente Medical Group is a member of the AMA Health System program and offers enterprise solutions that provide leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to promote the future of medicine.
Dr. Pan said Health Developers are currently “considering ease of use and providing patient care for our clinicians and patients in front of and in the heart of our patients.” . “What is this experience like? And how can you make it more streamlined and more efficient for users? That approach has changed in recent years.”
Dr. Pan spoke about the differences and in a recent episode of “AMA Update,” how environmental AI can help reduce gender differences in doctor burnout.
Reduces the burden on female doctors
Reduces the burden on female doctors
In 2023, nearly 55% of female doctors reported experiencing at least one burnout compared to 42% of males, according to AMA survey data.
Additionally, female doctors are less likely to feel valuable at 45.8% compared to 56.3% of men who find them worthwhile. And 71.7% of female doctors reported feeling satisfied with their job, which is how 73.9% of male doctors feel. According to exclusive AMA survey data for 2022, all numbers for both women and men improved at least slightly, but the gender gap was stable.
Dr. Pan said her organization saw similar inequality. For female doctors within the Washington Permanente Medical Group, two of the biggest factors that contributed to the burnout were documenting and working outside the office.
That’s another reason why she’s optimistic about incorporating AI into her workflow.
“Part of addressing this gap between men and women takes a holistic approach to the disproportionately experienced work burdens outside of women,” she said. “It includes long-term interventions from systems that reduce that burden, including ambient AI, artificial intelligence assistance, proper staffing and resources, and improved teamwork.”
As a leader in physician welfare, AMA reduces physician burnout by removing the burden of management and providing real-world solutions to help physicians rediscover the Joy™ of medicine .
Reduce the burnout gender gap
Reduce the burnout gender gap
The Washington Permanente Medical Group still sees the gender gap in burnout. But the gap itself is shrinking year by year, Dr. Pan said. She believes the health system is already taking place in relation to coaching and peer support for women.
To that end, the Washington Permanente Medical Group recently launched its fourth female coaching cohort. The program features both individual and group coaching, as well as an asynchronous professional development platform.
“We have also set up internal individual coaching programs for local operational leaders, many of which are female leaders and are not used to the position of their operational leader,” Dr. Pan said. Ta.
There is also a senior women leadership group that meets quarterly (approved by board members and executive women). More recent initiatives include establishing annual meetings and monthly podcasts to build connections, joints, mentoring and sponsorships between female doctors and other healthcare professionals.
Dr. Pan also believes AMA’s Joy in Medicine program helped Washington Permanente Medical Group make a difference for female doctors. The medical group received bronze level recognition in 2023.
The program can reduce burnout by implementing initiatives and policies that build a culture committed to actively supporting health and increasing medical joy.
“We are truly grateful for the joy of the Medical Health Systems Awareness Program because it provides an evidence-based roadmap for organizations to actually impact a comprehensive approach to clinicians’ well-being.” said Dr. Pan. “We used that approach to identify specific needs of various groups, including female clinicians.
“We see a decrease in burnout between male and female clinicians year-over-year, and it really shows that the interventions we enacted made a difference,” she added.
The “AMA Update” is a source of news focused on doctors. To find out who is having a problem with speaking, listen to your doctors and other experts about public health concerns, practice issues and more. Subscribe to AMA’s YouTube channel to catch all the episodes or listen to all AMA podcasts at AMA-Assn.org/podcasts.
The use of AI in healthcare causes greater enthusiasm and anxiety once in more and more physicians. Learn more from our new AMA Survey on AI Use (PDF).
