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7 Biggest Problems in Medical Practice and How to Solve Them

by GMDP October 25 2021

The life of a physician has always been difficult.

If you are a doctor actively working on the frontlines right now, you will probably know this more than anyone.

Despite your love and passion for your vocation, mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion cannot be avoided at all times. The healthcare industry has been struggling with shifting from traditional healthcare to a more technological way of applying medical practice. To top that, the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation and made medical practice more difficult.

Physicians on the frontlines are also facing different challenges depending on their line of work and how they provide patient care. The bottom line is, the pandemic affected everyone in the medical profession. 

Thankfully, doctors can adapt to the situation.

All these things might be disheartening to most physicians, they may also become an opportunity for growth and improvement. As long as you are learning something, challenges can become stepping stones to success.

Facing a problem in your medical practice? Don’t worry, you are not alone. Here are the biggest problems in medical practice and how they can be solved:

1. Lack of Internal Communication

Miscommunication amongst physicians and nurses results in poor patient outcomes. Internal communication in a healthcare facility is important. Needless to say, it should be efficient and as time-sensitive as possible.  Healthcare facilities that have poor internal communication may result in misdiagnoses and other medical errors that will most probably lead to a patient’s health complications or worse, the demise of the patient.

When there is clear communication in the healthcare space, staff will have a much clearer understanding of what is expected of them. This can also increase the drive of the employees because there will be less confusion. 

Messagenius can improve the overall flow of tasks in a healthcare facility. It provides secure and instant communication among physicians and their patients. Not only can doctors and other healthcare staff quickly send messages to each other but also share information and files in a secured setting. 

When there are rapid replies and clear communication, healthcare providers can deliver much more efficient patient care. 

With group chats and dedicated team channels, Messagenius can remedy the lack of internal communication among the health staff.

2. Patient Data Overload

When a healthcare provider or staff acquires too much information, there is a possibility that an important detail might be missed out, and it will be difficult to go over and find that specific information again. 

To tackle this problem, we can look into innovations in healthcare, like an electronic health record or electronic medical record system. These cloud-based applications can store patient data in the cloud so you can encode and store them easily and pull out the records in no time. The data stored in the system include a patient’s demographic data, complete medical history, records of hospitalization, and other important details. 

An Electronic health record system like Global MD Plus brings patient information to physicians the moment they need it. There is no need for healthcare staff to go over bulky paper records. With the use of Electronic Health Record systems, healthcare staff and physicians can now access patient data with just a few clicks. 

3. Challenge of remote healthcare because of Covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has made a huge impact on how physicians and their patients interact with each other.  This is difficult for patients who require physical contact with their physician. The methods of the meeting have already been less personalized.

An increase in patients’ anxiety can also happen because unlike before, family members or the people accompanying them to their appointments are now asked to stay outside so that the number of people inside a healthcare facility will be easily counted and monitored.

Showing support and compassion to patients can lessen their worries and make them feel better. However, if there is limited interaction with patients, providing support can be challenging.

Exploring remote patient monitoring might be the best solution to this problem. It is a method in the healthcare industry that uses technology to deliver patient care outside of the traditional healthcare setting. 

4. Data Security 

Technology makes the world a better place. This includes healthcare. Technological innovations such as telemedicine, patient monitoring through AI, and emr/ehr systems help physicians deliver a more efficient service and care to their patients especially in this time of the pandemic. 

However, the threat of hackers targeting confidential data is still looming. Hackers may get sensitive information from a patient's medical records. 

To avoid this, it is important to regularly update your system and to avail of the latest security updates. Review and update your backup plan for recovery in case of cyberattacks. Subscribing to an encryption utility can help in protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access. In choosing a service, it is important to consider the strength of security features that are built-in to help promote confidentiality, protect every patient’s privacy, and avoid data breaches. 

5. Keeping up with expensive equipment

Healthcare equipment is expensive. This is an investment. Just like any other investment, your long-term goals must always be considered. One example is the expensive storage spaces and equipment used to store patient data and information. The larger and more sophisticated the medical equipment is, the more expensive it is. When physicians spend a lot more on storage equipment, budgets on much more important resources are lessened. EHRs can help you save on physical hardware and storage spaces.

Thankfully, you can now invest in cloud-based storage.  This storage runs on the web instead of the computer.  There is no need for hardware or software installation anymore. Instead of requiring IT experts to install, configure, test, run, secure, and update hardware and software now and then, all of these configurations and updates are done by the cloud. 

6. Lack of real-time situation management

Given in this time of the pandemic, providing real-time physical solutions to patients is challenging. Yet, it is still important for physicians to be fully aware of their patients’ conditions constantly. Healthcare providers need to acquire relevant information for them to act at the moment. 

Good thing, a healthcare management system can help you with that. This system is designed to help physicians gather, retrieve and store patient information more efficiently. It gives more accessibility to healthcare providers that will eventually lead to better patient care.

7. Inefficient communication with patients

As mentioned above, Healthcare bills are expensive. True as it is, patients, demand to get their end of the bargain. Patients now want a more convenient way to get the answers that they need and concerns that need to be addressed. May it be inquiries, bills payment, setting appointments, or downloading their medical records.

Given that some healthcare staff work in different locations, they must have access to relevant and up-to-date information anywhere and anytime they may need it. This will enhance patient satisfaction and lessen miscommunication.

Another way to address this issue is by integrating online patient portals into your practice. A portal that contains all of the information both physicians and patients need anytime they may opt to. 

When they decided to take up this journey, healthcare providers already knew that this would be a hard path to take. But given the modern problems and the pandemic, physicians were not ready for this. No one was actually.


In this time of global pandemic and with the additional pressure brought by society, physicians are more prone to burnout. With multiple patients confined every single day in hospitals, physicians tend to give all their time and attention to treating their patients' health on their own. 

Digital innovations may be the strongest healthcare response to the pandemic. 

With this, we see that technology plays a huge part in the future of healthcare. Even if technology in healthcare comes with its challenges, the solutions for these challenges will strengthen the healthcare industry undoubtedly. 

These challenges may be tough but they will lead valuable lessons to physicians and the whole healthcare industry. It may be a hard time for physicians right now, but we need to keep in mind that when we hit rock bottom there is no place to go but up.


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