Sexual, gender minority physicians, trainees report high rates of burnout
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Key takeaways:
- LGBTQ+ attendings and trainees reported a low prevalence for professional fulfillment and a high prevalence for burnout.
- Additional research will explore how a sense of belonging is related to these findings.
Sexual and gender minority physicians and trainees had a higher likelihood for burnout and lack of professional fulfillment compared with their straight, cisgender colleagues, according to study results published in JAMA Network Open.
Additionally, sexual and gender minority attendings expressed a higher intent to leave the profession compared with their non-sexual and gender minority peers.
Image: Adobe Stock.
‘Identifying opportunities’
“This type of research is essential in identifying opportunities to improve the well-being of current and future physicians, ensuring a skillful and vital workforce that represents the diverse populations seeking our care,” Carl G. Streed Jr., MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, told Healio. “We cannot solve a problem without first describing it. This research is another step in a decades-long attempt to recruit, retain and improve the well-being of physicians and trainees from underrepresented backgrounds.”
Streed and colleagues sought to assess the prevalence of self-reported burnout, professional fulfillment, intent to leave, anxiety and depression among 386 attendings and 212 trainees who identified as sexual orientation and gender minorities across eight academic medical centers that participated in the Healthcare Professional Well-Being Academic Consortium.
Burnout, professional fulfillment, intent to leave, and self-reported anxiety and depression served as the primary outcomes.
Workplace experiences
Sexual and gender minority attendings reported a lower prevalence for professional fulfillment (34.5% vs. 40.5%) but a higher prevalence for burnout (47.4% vs. 35.4%) and intent to leave the profession (33.2% vs. 30.9%) compared with their non-sexual and gender minority peers (P < .001 for all).
Moreover, sexual and gender minority trainees reported a lower prevalence for professional fulfillment (29.9% vs. 35.7%) but a higher prevalence for burnout (51.2% vs. 40.9%) compared with their non-sexual and gender minority peers (P < .001).
Researchers then adjusted for age and race and ethnicity, and found that sexual and gender minority attendings reported higher odds for burnout than their non-sexual and gender minority peers (adjusted OR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.27-1.94)
“LGBTQ physicians and trainees are not doing as well as their straight, cisgender colleagues. This finding makes intuitive sense to those of us who are LGBTQ or work in LGBTQ research,” Streed said. “Physicians and physicians in training are human beings first and are not immune to negative workplace experiences. Such experiences occur more often for LGBTQ physicians than for cis-gender straight peers. So, it comes as no surprise that LGBTQ people are experiencing higher levels of burnout, anxiety and depression.”
Support needed
As the number of LGBTQ+ medical students continues to increase, “it is paramount that we ensure they are being supported as they enter the workforce,” Streed said.
“Like many who have read our research, we want to find out how we can alleviate these disparities experienced by LGBTQ people in the workforce,” he continued. “We are planning additional research that explores how a sense of belonging is related to these findings and identifies opportunities to strengthen people’s sense of community across multiple identity groups.”
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