The Administrative Burden on Palliative Academic Physicians

Context: Burnout is frequently a workload-related syndrome among palliative care physicians. Mandatory administrative activities contribute to this workload. The purpose of this study was to measure the amount of time involved in multiple required administrative activities and the cost of this on academic healthcare facilities. Methods: We measured all mandatory and non-mandatory activities that need to be completed by faculty and reviewed them with all Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine members for accuracy. Results: Every faculty member spends annually an approximate average of 5300 minutes on administrative activities (approximately the equivalent of 29 consults plus 133 follow-ups). Using the department net average per encounter, the approximate value of these encounters is $36,936 for each faculty member (about 11 clinical days). Conclusion: Academic palliative care physicians are required to complete a number of administrative activities. Institutions do not keep a registry of these activities and do not accommodate for them with a reduction in the annual clinical productivity requirements. We recommend that regulatory agencies and institutions work together to better regulate this list of tasks and their frequency.