May 24, 2023 – In 2019, the Board of Directors and House of Delegates of the American Academy of Physician Associates created a Joint Task Force on Burnout (JTF). Eric Tetzlaff, MHS, PA-C, DFAAPA, Chair, AAPA Task Force on Burnout, explained some of the reasons behind the formation of the Task Force: “The AAPA board of directors, the house of delegates and the PA community at large recognized the increasing and multidirectional demands on PA professionals with resultant detrimental impacts on professional well-being of PAs and the ability to provide high quality care to patients.”
The risk of professional burnout was not unique to PAs in healthcare as it is workplace syndrome suffered by all members of the healthcare team, Tetzlaff said, but there was an unmistakable unmet need to provide education, support and research on PA burnout to mitigate the risks of the burnout and help improve team-based care provided by PAs. “Although other organizations were addressing provider burnout, prior to the formation of the AAPA task force on PA burnout, there was no uniform and coordinated effort to address PA burnout.”
In an interview with The Journal of Healthcare Contracting, Jennifer M. Orozco, DMSc, PA-C, DFAAPA, AAPA President and Chair of the Board, discussed burnout among today’s healthcare workforce, how quality of care can be affected, and some initiatives the AAPA is undertaking to address the issue.
Read the interview in the latest issue of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting.