A Day in the Life of a Physician

All day long, physicians perform critical cognitive activities such as assessing an individual’s risk of developing a medical condition, diagnosing the probable disease underlying a person's complaints, selecting the best therapy for treating a patient, and forecasting the course of a chronic condition in an individual. The better these activities are performed; the better clinical decisions and outcomes are likely to be for both the individual and society as a whole. However, the modern era of medicine, characterized by rapid technological advancements, increased regulatory demands, and evolving healthcare systems, has introduced significant cognitive burdens for physicians. To perform consistently at a high level, the physician requires up- to-date and relevant clinical information, comprehensive access to the patient's clinical data, robust decision-making abilities, and efficient documentation skills. Increasingly, physicians are experiencing burnout, overburdened by the cognitive demands of their daily routine that was manageable, enjoyable, and satisfying only a few decades ago. So, what has changed in the intervening years? Let’s have a look.

Knowledge Overload

There has been a meteoric increase in the amount of medical knowledge over the last several decades. The ability of the physician to obtain pertinent and up-to-date medical knowledge is essential to the delivery of excellent clinical care, and this ability is increasingly compromised today. During the era of Galenic medicine, the body of medical knowledge remained relatively unchanged over the course of a physician’s career. The Galenic era lasted for more than 1,300 years, from 300 CE to the 17th century, when Galen, a Greek physician, heavily influenced medicine. However, in the modern era, both the breadth and depth of medical knowledge are increasing in volume and complexity. In 1950, the doubling time of medical knowledge was estimated to be 50 years; it decreased to 7 years in 1980 and to a mere 73 days in 2020.