The Misalignment of Healthcare Employment: Why Systems Optimize for Throughput Over Sustainability

Modern healthcare systems are highly efficient at maximizing throughput—but far less effective at sustaining the clinicians who power them. As employment models prioritize filled schedules and short-term productivity, clinician sustainability is often treated as secondary rather than essential. This article examines how operational design choices contribute to burnout, turnover, and long-term system fragility—and why sustainability must be reframed as a core performance metric, not a soft consideration.