Rural Physician Roundtable Highlights Vaccine Shortage, Physician Stress
Participants in the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) quarterly Rural Physicians Roundtable held on Feb. 4 expressed a consensus view that greater COVID-19 vaccine supplies are needed to fully leverage the state’s vaccination capacity. The 18 physician attendees also cited and welcomed news of falling COVID infection rates throughout the state.
Attendees also discussed the ongoing challenge of recruitment and retention of hospital staff in rural hospitals as well as the increased stress that practitioners nationwide are feeling as a result of the pandemic and the extra time required for electronic medical record (EMR) documentation. Physician resiliency, a topic of national conversation, requires attention as such work-related stress can affect both job performance and satisfaction.
Other topics discussed by the group included hospital visitor policies, optimal designs for waiting rooms to minimize the spread of infection and how to best manage the release of laboratory results to patient in a manner that assures that sensitive results are communicated personally to patients. These topics will be included in future roundtable agendas.
For questions about WHA Physician Roundtables, contact Chief Medical Officer
Chris Green, M.D.
This story originally appeared in the February 11, 2021 edition of WHA Newsletter