Clinical work intensity among medical oncologists.

Authors

null

Matthew F. Hudson

Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC

Matthew F. Hudson, Mark Allen O'Rourke, Dawn W. Blackhurst, Jennifer Caldwell, Regina A. Franco, Rebecca Russ-Sellers, Ronnie Horner

Organizations

Greenville Health System, Greenville, SC, Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship, Greenville, SC, Greenville Health System Cancer Institute, Greenville, SC, Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship, Greenville Health System Cancer Institute, Greenville, SC, University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, Greenville, SC, University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health, Columbia, SC

Research Funding

Other

Background: Oncology faces workforce shortages and increasing stress. Oncology provider well-being and resilience are mediated by organizational factors through clinical work intensity. Clinical work intensity (CWI) is the level of requisite technical skill, physical and mental effort and clinical judgement necessary, plus care provision-associated stress. Suboptimal clinical work intensity may result from unfavorable practice organizational factors preceding burnout. This pilot study assess CWI experienced by medical oncologists and oncologic advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs)/nurse practitioners as a prelude to a study of provider resilience. Methods: Investigators solicited seventeen medical oncologists-12 physicians and 5 nurse practitioners-from five oncology clinics in the Northwest, Midwest, and Southern regions of the United States Providers reported on level of work intensity associated with 339 patient visits occurring over an 8 week period where for each provider 5 visits were randomly selected from each of 4 randomly selected clinic days. Intensity was measured by the NASA-Task Load Index that assesses 6 dimensions (subscales) with additional questions measuring stress and visit satisfaction. Results: Compared to medical oncologists, APRNs reported a higher work intensity score on average (38.6 vs. 32.9; p < 0.0064), and higher scores on the frustration subscale (36.5 vs. 21.5; p < 0.0001). APRNs also scored higher on stress (27.8 vs. 22.2; p < 0.048), and scored lower on provider-perceived satisfaction with the visit (73.0 vs. 81.1; p < 0.0001). There was no difference between oncologists and nurse practitioners on the other dimensions, including mental, time, and physical demand, and effort. Conclusions: Oncologic APRNs may experience greater work intensity than medical oncologists. Future research will consider whether APRN work intensity scores reflect different or disproportionate challenges owing to scope of practice, workload, or administrative responsibilities, and determine those dimensions of higher work intensity that portend provider burnout. The goal is to identify strategies optimizing work intensity among oncology providers, mitigating provider burnout and enhancing the practice environment.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2018 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session A: Big Data Studies; Projects Relating to Equity, Value, and Policy

Track

Projects Relating to Equity, Value and Policy,Big Data Studies

Sub Track

Specialty and Manpower Issues

Citation

J Clin Oncol 36, 2018 (suppl 30; abstr 118)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2018.36.30_suppl.118

Abstract #

118

Poster Bd #

M1

Abstract Disclosures

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