Retaining doctors and reducing burnout through a flexible work initiative in a rural South African training hospital
Date
2021-03-23
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS
Abstract
Background: South African doctors work up to 60 h per week to ensure 24-h service delivery.
Many doctors are physically and emotionally exhausted, neglecting families, self-care, patient
empathy and innovative thinking about complex health issues. Exposure to clinical work
hours demonstrated a dose effect with burnout, suggesting cause and effect, affecting up to
80% of doctors. To retain good doctors, their complex needs must be recognised and allowances
made for flexible work options.
Taking a risk: George Hospital, a large regional training hospital in a rural district, converted
some full-time medical officer posts to part-time posts. This was in response to doctors’
requests for more flexible work options, often after returning from maternity leave or in
response to burnout. Perceived risks revolved around institutional resource security and that
part-time post vacancies would be difficult to fill.
Reaping the benefits: Employing doctors in part-time posts has created stability and continuity
in the health team. The hospital had generated a cohort of young professionals who care with
empathy and have emotional resilience to train others and plough their skills back into the
healthcare service.
Conclusion: Reducing working hours and creating flexible options were concrete ways of
promoting resilience and retaining competent doctors. We recommend that training and work
of doctors be structured towards more favourable options to encourage retention, which may
lead to better patient care.
Keywords: part-time posts; resilience; burnout prevent; training; flexible work; retention.
Description
The original publication is available at https://phcfm.org
Schaefer R, Jenkins LS, North Z. Retaining doctors and reducing burnout through a flexible work initiative in a rural South African training hospital. Afr J Prm Health Care Fam Med. 2021;13(1), a2799. https:// doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2799
Schaefer R, Jenkins LS, North Z. Retaining doctors and reducing burnout through a flexible work initiative in a rural South African training hospital. Afr J Prm Health Care Fam Med. 2021;13(1), a2799. https:// doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2799
Keywords
part-time posts, resilience, burnout prevent, training, flexible work, retention
Citation
Schaefer R, Jenkins LS, North Z. Retaining doctors
and reducing burnout through a flexible work initiative in a rural South African training hospital.Afr J Prm Health Care Fam Med.2021;13(1), a2799.https:// doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v13i1.2799