Physical Therapist Burnout is Serious.
Don’t let your clinic fall victim.
What is Physical Therapist Burnout and What Brings it On?
Outpatient physical therapists work with patients to diagnose, manage, and treat a range of musculoskeletal conditions. They provide care to individuals with disabilities, injuries, and chronic conditions, with a primary goal of improving mobility, strength, and overall function. However, the demands of the job can take a toll on therapists, leading to occupation burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.
The symptoms of burnout can manifest differently in different individuals. As a physical therapist, you may experience fatigue, irritability, low motivation, or a decreased ability to empathize with patients. As a result, a sense of detachment from work can form, leading to reduced job satisfaction and performance. About 70% of physical therapists report experiencing moderate to high levels of burnout, with factors such as emotional stress from patient care, heavy workloads, and administrative burdens
Fortunately, there are ways to combat burnout among outpatient physical therapists.
Establish a Self-Care Routine
Physical therapists should prioritize their well-being and take time to care for themselves. Engaging in activities that promote relaxation, such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, or yoga, can help reduce stress and improve mental health. Most importantly, exercising regularly, getting adequate amounts of sleep and keeping healthy eating habits are important for maintaining energy and focus throughout the day. This may be difficult for PT’s dealing with varying hours as they treat evenings and weekends. Keep yourself in check by limiting screen time at home, keeping healthy snacks in the office, and setting reminders to work-out in the small pockets of free-time you have throughout the day.
Practice mindfulness and stress management
Mindfulness-based interventions, such as meditation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or mindfulness-based stress reduction, can help therapists manage stress and prevent burnout. These practices involve being present in the moment, cultivating self-awareness, and developing a non-judgmental attitude toward one’s thoughts and emotions. You can sneak in mindfulness and breath work throughout your day to help stay balanced and ward off anxiety. Sit for 5 minutes before you go into the grocery store and focus on breathing. Take short walks after meals and long meetings. The best part about mindfulness practices is they can help therapists become more attuned to their patients’ needs, improving empathy and patient outcomes.
Establish clear work-life boundaries
Setting clear boundaries between work and personal life can help reduce stress and prevent burnout. Physical therapists should be mindful of their work hours and avoid overworking to prevent fatigue and burnout. Regular breaks and vacations should be prioritized to recharge both mentally and physically. Most importantly, let your coworkers know if you are feeling overwhelmed or overstressed. Effective communication with colleagues and supervisors about workload and expectations can help create a supportive work environment. And remember, burnout doesn’t just affect PT’s, your front desk and billing staff members are just as susceptible to burnout when workloads are overwhelming or not adequately streamlined. So check in with your employees when you start noticing symptoms of burnout in yourself and others.
Reach out for Social Support
Speaking of effective communication, the building and maintaining a strong relationships with colleagues and peers can help therapists feel supported and connected in their community. Peer support groups or mentoring programs can provide opportunities for therapists to share experiences, gain insight from others, and receive emotional support. Moreover, when therapists feel heard and understood, they are better equipped to manage the emotional toll of their work and maintain a healthier work-life balance. Ultimately, the presence of social support can enhance resilience, decrease feelings of isolation, and contribute significantly to reducing burnout among physical therapists.
Seek professional help for burnout
When symptoms of burnout begin to affect your work or personal life, it may be time to seek professional help. This may involve consulting with a mental health professional or seeking support from a supervisor. Talking with a mental health professional can help therapists identify the root causes of their burnout, and help develop coping strategies to prevent burnout from becoming a chronic issue. In addition, seeking support from a supervisor can help therapists address workplace stressors or discuss strategies for improving job satisfaction. There is no reason to suffer from burnout in silence – chances are, your colleagues and peers have experienced burnout themselves and may have their own tips to share.
Implement an EMR (Electronic Medical Record) system that streamlines your workload
Without a doubt, one of the best ways to combat burnout as a physical therapist is by using tools that are efficient, effective, and fast! Your technology should support your workflow and enable you to spend more time with your patients.
At S4PT, we strive to reduce the burden of documentation through advanced automation features. Our Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system mines patient data from electronic check-ins and generates an average of 1,250 patient-specific words to facilitate documentation. With a typing speed of 60 words per minute, this feature alone can save 20 minutes of typing time. In addition, our system includes a library of frequently used treatment plans, which can auto-fill 20-40 rows of treatments and exercises that would otherwise need to be typed.
With Systems4PT EMR, your evaluations will contain twice the Medicare compliance document in half the time!
No repetitive typing. No clicking of endless checkboxes. Your evaluations auto-populate the following data points, touch-free, giving you twice the compliance in half the time!!
- Patient Concerns & Goals
- Prior Level of Function
- Outcome Test Name and Score
- Employment / School Status
- BMI Score and Interpretation
- Fall Risk Status
- Functional Deficits
- List of Medications and Dosage Info
- Complexities Related to Patient’s Medical History
- Complexities Related to Patient’s Exam Findings
- Complexities Related to Patient’s Clinical Presentation
- Complexities Related to Therapist’s Clinical Judgement
- Medicare 10% de minimis Coding, Modifiers, and Defense
- Functional Goals
- Clinical Rational defending each CPT code in the Treatment Plan
Systems4PT is Here to Help Alleviate PT Burnout!
It’s time to put a stop to spending evenings, weekends, and holidays catching up on documentation homework. The Systems4PT automated documentation features allow therapists to sign most daily notes before patients leave the office – without compromising patient progress! Furthermore, our real-time payor validation monitors hundreds of payer rules as therapists document, notifying them of any claims that do not adhere to integrated rules. As new evaluations are completed in Systems4PT, the documentation process becomes more streamlined, reducing stress and time spent on paperwork.
It’s no surprise that burnout is a serious issue that affects outpatient physical therapists and can have negative consequences for both the therapists and their patients. We are confident that our automated features can improve physical therapists’ quality of life and, most importantly, enable them to dedicate more time to treating their patients. With this in mind, we invite you to take a few minutes to experience our system live by signing up for a demo using the form. You and your patients deserve the best possible care, and we strive to make that a reality.