Professional Fulfillment: A Pilot Study to Decrease Burnout in Clinical Academic Neurology Faculty

Abstract

A pilot project, NeuroMessage, was implemented to improve professional fulfillment for full-time academic clinical neurologists through restructuring administrative non–patient-facing support. It was a targeted intervention to improve the number and quality of clinical messages received through an appropriate triage system. A messaging triage algorithm was developed to decrease physician time spent on in-basket messages. The administrative team and a research assistant were trained to manage nonclinical messages. Although the program did decrease total participant in-basket messages, the neurologist subjects did not find the intervention decreased time spent on responding to in-basket messages or improved physician job satisfaction. Improved triaging and additional administrative support for in-basket messages did not notably decrease time spent on managing in-basket messages. Further research may help understand what types of clinical support may be helpful to improve burnout. Clinical support to triage messages, so that only rare urgent messages get through to the physician, should be studied to see if aligning duties that are uniquely suited for a physician improves personal achievement and decreases burnout.