Uber Eats and Peloton Subscriptions? Some Creative Ways Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians Fight Burnout

According to this article from Fierce Healthcare, the battle against caregiver fatigue and burnout has become harder than ever. The burnout physicians are experiencing is not your typical burnout, either… it is a different level some have labeled as moral injury as clinicians risk their lives in hospitals overrun with patients, including some who continue to deny the dangers posed by the pandemic. Additionally, medical practices face financial stress and logistical challenges that threaten to close their businesses.

Despite the scope of the problem, there is plenty organizations can do to help healthcare workers, said Alexa Kimball, M.D., CEO and president of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians (HMFP) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and president of Physician Performance LLC. Kimball lead a program over the last year at HMFP, aimed at alleviating stress in the era of COVID. The latest perks they’ve offered doctors? Home restaurant deliveries, laundry and dry cleaning service, personal concierge services, and free Peloton app access for on-demand workouts.

“We just threw everything we could at the problem. We had free food delivery. We got people hotel rooms when they needed them. We searched through every corner to get people PPE. We increased our childcare resources for them. We developed an identity theft protection program because there’s been all sorts of fraudulent unemployment claims out there. We just recently created other insurance programs for illness,” she said. “We went out there and said: ‘What do you need?’ And then we tried to provide opportunities for people wherever we could.”

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