Technology's Answer to Physician Burnout: Automation Will Improve the Future of Rad Onc

Administrative tasks are overwhelming clinicians in radiation oncology, and documentation remains much to blame. It’s a daily pain point that seems to separate providers from patients, driving them further from the reasons they chose the field to begin with. When overall dissatisfaction persists, burnout results. I’ve seen it personally among colleagues, and researchers have shown its impact, noting concern.

With “emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a decreased sense of personal accomplishment,” burnout impacts a significant portion of radiation oncologists, according to a report from the ACR Commission on Radiation Oncology. Among other factors, the report cites inadequate clinical and administrative support and decreased job satisfaction secondary to increased electronic medical record (EMR) use and decreased patient time as key contributors.

Radiation oncology as a field is inherently complex, its range of services requiring detailed documentation. The intricacy of treatment plans, regulatory compliance, collaboration across specialties, ongoing patient monitoring, and the demands of electronic health records (EHRs) and oncology information systems (OIS) all create time-consuming and redundant tasks. As these burdens amass on top of heavy clinical workloads, the risk for burnout grows. The pandemic exacerbated burnout symptoms, which are more acutely felt by women in the field, the report found.

At Fuse, we knew that technology would play an important role in mitigating many of rad onc’s daily pain points. We developed solutions to enhance efficiency, automate processes, and reduce redundant tasks. In doing this, we eliminated many of the most common stressors so clinicians could focus on what matters most: patients. By automating charge capture review of thousands of data points, our technology monitors the OIS for specific activities, automatically creating documentation for the correct patient, service, and date essential documentation. In reviewing both discrete and unstructured data across systems, Fuse provides clinical insights for charge capture and documentation creation, which enhances efficiency and reduces the cognitive load on clinicians. As this goes down, so too does risk for burnout.

The robustness of our system enables a reality where documentation becomes the by-product of clinical decision-making and providers can enter clinical tasks just once, significantly cutting down on redundancies. Fuse employees know radiation oncology through and through, and due to this extensive expertise, we are able to achieve so many productivity gains for our users. We also recently formed a Clinical Liaison Council (CLC) of industry experts who help support solutions development with guidance based on real-world experience in clinics. We are always paying attention to the experiences and feedback of radiation oncology providers so we can deliver on what you need most: more time for patient care.