Home health workflows can be frustrating and complicated. Tasks can be repetitive, leaving staff members feeling overwhelmed by the daily obligations they have.
Those are some of the reasons that the burnout crisis in home health has become a real and complex issue. Burnout, which is a state of physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion, occurs when carers continue to dedicate their time and energy to manage the safety and healthcare needs of others. However, when those carers don’t take enough time for themselves and have to meet higher demands, it can lead to exhaustion, depression, anxiety, and many other issues.
If you work in home health and want to support your team of healthcare providers, it’s essential to understand the burnout crisis.
The Burnout Crisis in Home Health
The truth is that administrators, clinical managers, and executives have been stretched thin with all the responsibilities they have. Patient demands have increased, but staffing shortages lead to constant pressure. On top of that, a lack of staff, missing a day of work, or other issues can lead to paperwork piling up, a near constant flow of audits, and disconnected systems that increase daily stress and leave you buried in your tasks.
This is a competitive hiring market, but your agency can’t afford to lose staff. That’s why agencies like yours are turning to healthcare automation tools and home health workflows to ease the strain and make their processes more efficient. With smarter processes and better task streamlining, they’re reducing staff burnout, improving retention, strengthening compliance, and enhancing patient care.
Streamlining Documentation
Manual data entry eats up time and can lead to errors, and it’s also one of the greatest stresses in the field. Healthcare workers don’t have the time to take physical notes and then retype them when they can finally get back to the office.
That’s why automated data capture is so helpful. Automating data capture and using a secure, centralized healthcare document management system means your staff doesn’t have to go back to the office and type in their notes. They can take a photo or scan the original document in the field, quickly updating patient files and other documents without duplicating the workload. Tools such as Mobile Complete and Medical Record Request Management keep your staff on track throughout the day.
Automating Approvals and Signatures
Physician signature requests delay care plans, which is frustrating for both staff and patients. Fortunately, automating the process with secure e-signatures is a helpful solution. What might have taken days to get in the past can now be requested and received within hours. Clinicians can send forms from a tablet or computer, and physicians can review and sign the approval from their mobile device. Instant notifications let everyone know when tasks are complete, and physician order tracking ensures physicians have all the necessary information to review.
Improving Communication and Coordination
Relying on phone calls and email can lead to information getting lost in the fray. Care teams often use these communication options, even though data can be lost. A better option is to use secure, integrated channels that hail from a single source of truth. For example, a tool like Referral AI makes sure no information or to-do tasks slip under the radar. This helps prevent unnecessary back-and-forth between offices or clinicians. And, with the right automation tools, task alerts are automatically sent out when referrals are signed and ready to go.
Providing Real-Time Visibility
Staff members get frustrated when they don’t know which tasks are urgent and which can wait a little while. They need dashboards that highlight overdue documents, provide insight into pending approvals, and display all active referrals in one place. When dashboards like this are used, managers can step in and reassign workloads as needed, prevent bottlenecks, and reduce the risk of burnout due to heavy task loads. Clinical automation of task scheduling provides everyone with more information and leadership with the oversight needed to support both compliance and reporting needs in the office.
Burnout Is Preventable
Burnout doesn’t have to be “part of the job,” and it’s possible to reduce burnout and improve retention rates. Smarter home health workflows are designed to minimize administrative pressure, protect staff against burnout, and keep patients at the heart of care. By using workflow automation in healthcare, you can simplify documentation, automate routine tasks, and improve communication. Leaders have the opportunity to create an environment where teams are supported and processes are sustainable.
To learn more about automation, streamlining tasks in health care, and how you can strengthen patient care, contact WorldView. Explore how WorldView can help you reduce burnout.
