How to be the doctor of your dreams
The health care industry has long struggled with the challenges of having an educated, skilled workforce, especially for the chronically ill.
The rise of mobile health care systems, however, has opened the door to the idea of an educated and skilled workforce.
What’s needed is more information, more testing and better training, said Scott Grosz, president and chief executive officer of the Health and Hospitals Association of America.
The new era of personalized care, with an emphasis on patient education and patient-centered care, is transforming the health care delivery landscape.
The Affordable Care Act, or ACA, has provided millions of Americans with the ability to enroll in the new, more comprehensive public health insurance program.
It also has given hospitals, doctors and other health care providers a new revenue stream.
“We’re in a period where the demand for care is so high that we need a lot of doctors,” said Andrew Tiller, CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges, a group that represents more than 800 of the nation’s top medical schools.
Tiller said many hospitals are using new technology to get more doctors to sign up for patients.
“This is going to be a big thing,” he said.
Tillery said hospitals will need to be prepared to train new doctors and offer them training in the health systems and patient care they will need.
He said hospitals should look at using technology to make it easier for new doctors to get in.
For example, a new hospital in Florida could have a doctor that is in training in a technology-based approach to patient care, Tiller suggested.
The hospital would then offer that training to all of the other physicians who would be in the same facility.
“They might be able to help out at other places, too,” Tiller added.
One way to train physicians is through a “virtual” training program that allows doctors to spend time in an office.
They are then asked to attend clinical events like face-to-face training sessions, which are typically held at hospitals.
In the past, doctors have taken on a lot more administrative duties, said Julie Smith, director of the Center for Medical Education and Research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
“That’s the challenge, but it’s a solution that’s getting a lot better,” Smith said.
“It’s a very exciting time for the future.”
As hospitals are investing more in technology, more doctors are seeking out the practice.
That trend has already begun.
More than 50% of new doctors will start working in a health care system in 2020, according to the Association for Healthcare Improvement.
The number of new physicians will increase by about 20% by 2023, according the American College of Surgeons.
A new survey by the American Hospital Association found that nearly one in three hospitals is looking for a doctor to fill a position, up from one in four a decade ago.
More doctors are also taking on new roles in other fields.
One in three new primary care physicians are working in an occupational therapy practice, up sharply from about one in 10 five years ago, according in a survey by McKinsey & Co. Doctors are also looking to use technology to improve their health care, said David P. Condon, president of the American Medical Association.
For instance, doctors are looking at mobile phones to improve communication with patients.
A physician could be using a tablet computer to read patient charts, for example, and ask questions.
The mobile devices can be customized with features like the ability for doctors to call in for appointments or send medical emails.
“I think people are more interested in the technology, but I think the real challenge is not the technology itself, it’s the education,” Condon said.
Cordon added that many doctors have become increasingly aware of their own limitations in dealing with patients with complex conditions, like multiple sclerosis, that require them to be in a certain space.
But it is the lack of a trained workforce, said Michael W. Vohs, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University and a former chairman of the National Academy of Medicine, that has made health care a challenge.
“The challenge is, is it a good challenge for the profession?
It’s not,” Voh said.
The health care industry has long struggled with the challenges of having an educated, skilled workforce, especially for the chronically…
