Q&A
Impact of understaffing on quality of patient care
0:45:27
ยท
178 sec
Dr. Mitch Katz discusses how understaffing and time constraints can affect the quality of patient care at NYC Health + Hospitals, and the strategies employed to maintain care quality.
- Katz emphasizes the importance of listening, caring, and providing personalized attention to patients
- He acknowledges the challenges of balancing time constraints with patient needs, especially when dealing with complex cases or late arrivals
- Strategies to maintain care quality include prioritizing the most pressing issues during visits and scheduling follow-up appointments when necessary
- Katz highlights the commitment of healthcare providers to do their best for patients while also addressing systemic challenges like long waiting lists
Mercedes Narcisse
0:45:27
I understand that.
0:45:28
Can you please share your understanding of how an understaffed workforce could affect the quality of care of the patients, for the patients?
Mitch Katz
0:45:38
Sure.
0:45:38
Well, I mean, what think about what what we want for ourselves, for our family members when we go to see a health care provider.
0:45:47
We want somebody who will listen.
Gale Brewer
0:45:49
Mhmm.
Mitch Katz
0:45:50
We want somebody who will listen with intention.
Gale Brewer
0:45:53
Mhmm.
Mitch Katz
0:45:54
We want somebody who cares.
0:45:57
I think there are many ways to show that you care.
0:46:01
I don't I don't think that I mean, again, people greatly vary.
0:46:06
Not everybody I mean, I take care of also at at Gouvenir, working people who I can tell would like to get in and out of my office as quickly as possible, who I have, you know, no trouble seeing in 5 minutes because they have a job.
0:46:23
They wanna know were their labs okay, blood pressure good, do you need any refills?
0:46:28
Got it.
0:46:29
And they that's what they want.
0:46:31
I have other people who would like to talk for 30 or 40 minutes because they have very complicated social situations, and they trust me.
0:46:40
And what you try to do as best you can as a primary care doctor is you try to see everybody in your 3 and a half hours, you try to allocate the correct time.
0:46:52
But if it goes wrong, right, if if people come in late, right, and so they if someone, for example, comes in 40 minutes late, do you see them?
0:47:07
Do you not see them?
0:47:09
It's not an easy question.
0:47:11
On one hand, they made it to the clinic.
0:47:14
You wanna see them.
0:47:15
On the other hand, if they're now 40 minutes at somebody else's slot, do you make everybody else late?
0:47:21
Do you stay late?
0:47:23
You good primary care doctors do this.
0:47:26
A typical thing I'll do is to say, yes, I'll see them, but tell them they're going to have to be seen last.
0:47:32
And when I see them, I might say, we don't have a full appointment.
0:47:36
Tell me the most important thing today, and then come back and see me.
0:47:41
Right?
0:47:41
That we we have an incredibly, and you'll hear from them, loving, committed group of people who recognize the challenges of our patients, and it is natural to wanna do everything for your patients.
0:47:57
That's actually even a good thing.
0:47:59
But as a system person, my job is to try to deal with the 20,000 people on the waiting list.
0:48:06
And that means talking to my my doctors and others about, okay.
0:48:10
Well, maybe we can't today deal with everything that's important to the person.
0:48:15
Can we deal with the things that are most important?
0:48:17
I ask my patients, what's most important to you to deal with today?
0:48:23
I think that may not be everything.