Reducing clinician inefficiency and restoring meaning in practice: A professional coaching approach for family medicine residents

Abstract

Burnout is widespread among primary care physicians (PCPs). Several key drivers of burnout in this specialty that have been increasingly recognized are the growing complexity and work demands placed on PCPs by outpatient clinical work environments. These high demands, from the perspective of the physician, detract from other valued tasks which provide meaning in daily work such as relationship-building and fellowship with the medical team. Given these trends, we believe that a viable means to address burnout can be found in utilizing a performance coaching approach to equip resident physicians for the practical and emotional demands of the primary care work environment into which they are entering. Specifically, we recommend a focus on clinical efficiency as an area for coaching development due to its potential impact on resident physician well-being. In this brief review article, we provide a summary of evidence for coaching interventions, along with evidence supporting an expansion to these approaches in clinical efficiency in outpatient settings based on the connection between workflow and engagement in meaningful medical practice. Lastly, we outline a prospective coaching approach which targets common sources of clinic inefficiency for resident practitioners.