Doctors feel burned out but encouraged by potential of AI, survey says

Doctors within the U.S. are struggling to contend with burnout, staffing shortages and overwhelming administrative workloads, but many are optimistic that artificial intelligence could help to ease these problems, a latest survey found. 

Greater than 90% of physicians report feeling burned out on a “regular basis,” in keeping with the survey, commissioned by Athenahealth, which offers cloud-based health-care tools. The survey found that excessive administrative tasks akin to paperwork are the driving force behind this burnout, with 64% of doctors saying they feel overwhelmed by clerical requirements. 

Greater than 60% of respondents said they’ve considered leaving the medical field, the report said. 

Athenahealth released the outcomes of the survey Wednesday.

To maintain up with workloads, physicians are spending a median of 15 hours per week working outside their normal hours, in what many within the industry check with as “pajama time,” the survey said. 

Nearly 60% of doctors within the survey said they feel they don’t have enough in-person time with their patients, and greater than 75% reported feeling overwhelmed by patients’ “excessive communication demands,” akin to frequent texting, calling and emailing outside scheduled visits. 

Doctors are also noticing the challenges that their employers are facing, the survey found. 

Around 78% of physicians said poor staff retention and shortages are affecting their organizations, in keeping with the survey. Moreover, fewer than 40% of doctors feel confident that their employer is “on solid financial footing.” 

Despite these obstacles, 83% of doctors within the survey said they believed AI could help. Physicians think the technology could eventually streamline administrative work, improve the accuracy of diagnoses, discover patterns and anomalies in patient data and more, the survey said.

Many doctors said their biggest concern about AI is that it may lead to a lack of human touch in health care, and around 70% said they’re concerned concerning the technology’s use during no less than one a part of the diagnosis process, the survey said. 

Even so, twice as many survey participants said AI would eventually be a part of the answer, compared with those that said AI is an element of the issue, in keeping with the news release. 

The study said AI optimists — survey participants who indicated that AI is an element of the answer — also are likely to feel more positive concerning the broader use of technology in health care. Nearly 80% of that group said they think tech helps them manage their patient workload, as an illustration.  

“To ensure that physicians to completely profit from technology as a care enhancement tool, they should experience more benefits and fewer added complexities or burdens,” Dr. Nele Jessel, chief medical officer of Athenahealth, said in the discharge. “If we get this right, we’ll be using the technology to scale back administrative work and increase efficiencies in ways in which allow physicians to refocus on their patients.”

While AI is unlikely to resolve health-care problems overnight, the survey found that the technology is giving some doctors hope for the longer term. Around 37% of the AI optimists imagine the sphere is ultimately heading in the precise direction, in keeping with the survey.

Within the study, 1,003 doctors were surveyed between Oct. 23 and Nov. 8. The survey was conducted online by market research firm The Harris Poll on behalf of Athenahealth, whose sponsorship of the study was not revealed to the survey participants, the discharge said. Only 5% of respondents said they use Athenahealth’s technology, the discharge said.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: