This story is one of more than 20 health system profiles featured in the 2025 AMA Joy in Medicine® magazine (log into your AMA account to view).
Pediatricians have the fifth-highest burnout rate for physician specialties, according to exclusive survey data from the AMA’s Organizational Biopsy®. Texas Children’s Pediatrics is striving to improve those statistics through team-based care.
Spanning 350 pediatricians across 66 locations, Texas Children's Pediatrics use of teamwork initiatives to reduce physician burnout and improve well-being and job satisfaction.
“It's a priority in pediatrics in general to reduce burnout and increase work satisfaction of the physicians,” says Liz May, MD, a pediatrician and chair of Texas Children’s Pediatrics’ engagement and wellness committee.
While physicians from all specialties experience burnout, pediatricians have the added challenge of taking care of whole families—coordinating with parents and other caretakers and specialists while keeping up with the many children who need to be seen.
“It’s about trying to balance and juggle it all at one time,” says Dr. May.
In an interview, Dr. May discussed the structures, roles and workflows Texas Children’s Pediatrics uses to promote seamless teamwork. The result: improved well-being scores and job satisfaction.
No matter what the individual title, everyone has well-defined roles on the team, Dr. May adds, noting that, for nonphysician health professionals, that often means “supporting the physician effort that's outside of face-to-face or direct patient care.”
Freeing up time for direct patient care
Texas Children’s Pediatrics bases its patient-care model on a team-based method. A team member is always there to assist, from the time a patient enters a clinic until after the appointment, explains Dr. May.
Each of its clinics has teams that include office managers, front-office staff, medical assistants and nurses. Clinics also have access to social workers and behavioral health specialists. The model ensures that teams take care of the scheduling, follow-up on prior authorizations, triage and other behind-the-scenes work so that physicians can spend most of their time providing face-to-face care with the patient.
Research has shown that physicians who perceive that they are providing high-quality care can help facilitate the delivery of that care. They also report better professional satisfaction, which plays a huge role in how people rate their well-being. In Dr. May’s view, this is what the team-based care approach accomplishes. By having that face-to-face time with patients, job satisfaction rises, she says.
In addition to the clinical teams, operations teams look at the day-to-day financials to make sure things are running smoothly. A quality team assesses how the health system can improve things to help ensure the delivery of high-quality and evidence-based care.
