Burnout rates improve among US oncology fellows, yet occupational distress continues
Key takeaways:
- One in five medical oncology fellows reported burnout in 2023 vs. one in three in 2013.
- However, a significant number of fellows continued to report occupational distress in 2023, researchers noted.
Researchers observed improvements in rates of burnout and work-life integration challenges among a cohort of U.S. medical oncology fellows in 2023 vs. 2013, but challenges remain, according to survey results.
The findings underscore the need for work-life integration optimization “and the need to better understand the drivers mediating a positive workplace experience and its evolution once in practice,” researchers concluded.
A better understanding
“To better understand burnout in oncology and clinician well-being along the career continuum starting with training, we sought to characterize the professional well-being of physicians training in medical oncology in 2023 and to identify trends over time comparing to fellows from a decade prior,” Ishwaria Subbiah, MD, MS, executive director for cancer care equity and professional wellness at Sarah Cannon Research Institute, and a Healio Women in Oncology Peer Perspective board member, and colleagues wrote.
Researchers invited all U.S. medical oncology fellows who participated in the 2023 ASCO Medical Oncology In-Training Exam to complete an optional post-exam survey that assessed respondents’ experience with depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, fatigue and work-life integration.
They then compared responses with the 2013 ASCO post-in-training exam survey, assessing differences in well-being dimensions between groups with the use of two sample t tests and analysis of variance tests and chi-square tests.
Observed improvements
Overall, 1,589 medical oncology fellows (first-year fellows, 33%; second-year fellows, 36%; third-year fellows, 31%) participated in the 2023 survey.
Results showed that 20% of fellows reported burnout in 2023 compared with 34% of fellows in 2013 (P < .01). In addition, 50% of fellows reported work-life integration satisfaction in 2023 vs. only 34% of fellows in 2013 (P < .01).
Researchers also found that 18% of fellows reported high emotional exhaustion in 2023, with the highest rates observed among first-year fellows (21%), followed by third-year fellows (17%) and second-year fellows (16%; P = .04).
In addition, researchers observed lower rates of reported high emotional exhaustion in 2023 (18%) vs. 2013 (32%) and high depersonalization (11% vs. 16%; all P < .01).
However, 93% of fellows reported that they would choose oncology again as their field compared with 89% of fellows in 2013 (P < .01).
‘Healthier work environments’
The data show “that concerted efforts by oncology training programs, hospitals and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to improve the training experience have had a positive effect, but a sizable portion of oncology fellows still reported occupational distress,” Subbiah and colleagues wrote.
“The improvement in measures of well-being over the past decade illustrates that progress is possible and should encourage the cancer care community to continue efforts to optimize oncology training,” they continued. “Collectively, we can create healthier work environments for clinicians across their career trajectories and improve the quality of care for patients with cancer.”
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