I read an interesting review article in Becker’s talking about an algorithm developed at Yale for predicting physician departures. The spoiler alert is that it was 97% accurate.
I was sufficiently intrigued by the notion that I followed the link to the original article and dug into the details.
It comes as no surprise that physician age is a determinant. Nor should we be surprised that physicians over 65 years old were a significant part of that metric. What was surprising to me was that physicians between the ages of 35 and 44 years old were the dominant age group.
Other factors included:
- Tenure – the length of time in practice
- Practice complexity
- The amount of time required outside of expected work hours
- A variety of metrics around EMR software use
This made me wonder what research like this would look like if it were performed on pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. What would the primary determinants be? How would age play in? What kind of work conditions might rise to the top of this list? And what could/would we do about them if they were identified?
What do you think?
As always, the comments in this blog reflect my thoughts and not necessarily those of ASHP or of my employer.
Dennis A. Tribble, PharmD, FASHP
Ormond Beach, FL
datdoc@aol.com