Promoting Professional Wellbeing Through Team-Based Care: AMA Boot Camp Recap

I had the opportunity to attend the AMA Practice Transformation Boot Camp on September 18, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Physicians, care team members and health system leaders attended to learn successful team-based care strategies that promote professional wellbeing.

Industry experts spoke about various change model concepts for fostering meaningful change in the clinical practice and for creating effective communication with team members and administration. As a Senior Certification Specialist at NHA, it was insightful to hear how healthcare leaders are applying best practices to improve patient safety and care delivery processes.

Some recurring themes from the bootcamp that reinforced that NHA is providing the right solutions in the market:

1. Physician burnout is a real problem.

Research presented by Kevin Hopkins, MD in his keynote: “Making the case for advanced team-based care: The right thing to do in any payment model,” shows that 80% of physicians are at full capacity or are overextended, and 55% describe their morale as somewhat or very negative.

• At no point throughout the bootcamp was physician mentioned without mention of medical assistant. MAs are the key piece in the team-based care model and for physician well being. With the increased responsibilities, it is more important than ever that MAs are working at the top of their credential.

“We feel caught between doing the work our patients need and the work we feel is mandatory in our environment. When those competing demands are not aligned, it creates a situation that is simply unmanageable for many physicians and other health professionals.”
- Christine Sinsky, MD, Internist, VP of Professional Satisfaction, AMA

2. Empowering healthcare professionals to work at the top of their license/credential can help create better efficiencies and reduce physician burnout.

Healthcare professionals, most notably MAs and LPNs, are evolving to take on more responsibilities. This empowers their careers while also lightening the load of physicians so everyone can provide more meaningful work that ultimately leads to better processes and improved patient care.

• NHA’s allied health certifications, as well as our continuing education opportunities including the latest solutions, Principles of Health Coaching™ and TEAM Based Care™, are helping empower healthcare professionals to have the skills and confidence needed to excel when taking on elevated roles and responsibilities.

3. Improved patient communication strategies can help with adherence and have a great impact on overall health.

According to the World Health Organization, increasing adherence may have a far greater impact on the health of the population than any improvement in specific medical treatments. As Marie Brown, MD, MACP shared in her presentation “Medication management: Save 2 hours each day,” the most effective approach to solve the problem of medication adherence involves the interaction between the patient and the staff.

• Motivational Interviewing is a proven strategy that helps healthcare practitioners have more meaningful conversations with patients. Principles of Health Coaching™ helps future and current clinical care professionals with roles that involve frequent patient communication. It includes virtual simulation training, giving users hands-on experience using Motivational Interviewing to talk to virtual patients who respond and react based on how conversations are approached and managed.

4. Team-based care can create better communication and efficiencies that benefit all practitioners, healthcare professionals and patients.

From pre-visit planning to team huddles and empowering professionals to work at the top of their skillset, team-based care has helped teams around the country work to improve workflow and communication and alleviate burnout.

• Changing processes can be a challenge. A smooth transition requires everyone on the care team to be aligned with a standardized, foundational knowledge from training such as TEAM Based Care™, an online learning and assessment-based certificate program that standardizes learning to align each member of the care team in their knowledge and competency in providing patient-centered care.

The AMA boot camp was a meaningful event. It provided validation that we at NHA are on the right track in fulfilling our mission of empowering people to access a better future. With increasing demands on our healthcare system, our mission is more vital as the need for certified allied health workers has only increased, and the need for them to work at the top of their skillset has become more important than ever.