This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
More than half of US physicians experiencing professional burnout
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A survey analysis found that professional burnout is increasing among physicians in the United States, according to data published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Tait D. Shanafelt , MD, at the division of hematology at the Mayo Clinic, and colleagues stated that 54.4% of physicians reported at least one symptom of burnout in their investigation.
"Once in practice, physicians have generally high degrees of satisfaction with their career choice but experience high degrees of professional burnout and dissatisfaction with work-life integration," Shanafelt and colleagues wrote. "Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, loss of meaning in work, feelings of ineffectiveness and a tendency to view people as objects rather than as human beings. Burnout has profound implications for individual physicians and their families."
Tait D. Shanafelt
Results showed that physicians reported emotional exhaustion (46.9%), depersonalization (34.6%) and low sense of personal accomplishment (16.3%). Shanafelt and colleagues reported that in aggregate, 54.4% of physicians had at least one symptom of burnout and 40.9% reported that their professional schedules left enough family or personal time.
Burnout rates were higher (54.4% vs. 45.5%; P < .001) and work-life balance was lower (40.9% vs. 48.5%; P < .001) in 2014 compared with 2011.
The researchers also found that burnout prevalence had increased within each specialty since 2011 and many had increased by more than 10%, including: family medicine (51.3% vs. 63%; P < .001), general pediatrics (35.3% vs. 46.3%; P = .005), urology (41.2% vs. 63.6%; P < .001), orthopedic surgery (48.3% vs. 59.6%; P = .01), dermatology (31.8% vs. 56.5%; P < .001), physical medicine and rehabilitation (47.4% vs. 63.3%; P = .01), pathology (37.6% vs. 52.5%; P = .006), radiology (47.7% vs. 61.4%; P = .003), and general surgery subspecialties (42.4% vs. 52.7%; P = .005).
Compared with the general population, physicians reported higher emotional exhaustion (43.2% vs. 24.8%; P < .001), depersonalization (23% vs. 14%; P < .001) and overall burnout (48.8% vs. 28.4%; P < .001). Additionally, compared with the general population, physicians reported lower satisfaction with work-life balance (36% vs. 61.3%; P < .001).
After adjusting for age, sex, relationship status and hours worked per week, physicians were still at an increased risk for burnout (OR = 1.97; 95%CI, 1.8-2.16; P < .001) and were less likely to be satisfied with work-life balance (OR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.62-0.75; P < .001) than the general population.
"Burnout and satisfaction with [work-life balance] among U.S. physicians are getting worse," Shanafelt and colleagues wrote. "American medicine appears to be at a tipping point with more than half of U.S. physicians experiencing professional burnout. Given the extensive evidence that burnout among physicians has effects on quality of care, patient satisfaction, turnover and patient safety, these findings have important implications for society at large."
The researchers called for the systemic implementation of evidence-based interventions.
"These interventions must address contributing factors in the practice environment rather than focusing exclusively on helping physicians care for themselves and training them to be more resilient," they wrote. – by Chelsea Frajerman Pardes
Disclosures: Shanafelt is the co-inventor of the Physician Well-being Index.
Perspective
Back to TopJohn D. Kelly IV, MD
The study findings by Shanafelt and his colleagues are disturbing. Physician burnout is on the rise despite no appreciable increase noted in all other U.S. workers. Although the survey response rate was low (19%), the message is clear — physicians note increasing difficulty with work-life balance and are becoming more depleted by their vocation.
Burned-out physicians provide poorer quality care, have less compliant patients and are named in more malpractice suits. Thus, this study will hopefully send a clear message to bureaucrats and insurers that the current challenging health care milieu is indeed not “cost-effective,” as burnt-out physicians are inefficient providers.
Hopefully, payers now will recognize that increasing regulation, decreasing reimbursements, mounting paperwork demands, omnipresent malpractice stress and technologically driven depersonalization of health care provision is simply dysfunctional.
Until meaningful reform manifests and the “high demand, low control” culture continues, physicians, more than ever, need to prioritize self-care and schedule rest, hobbies and spiritual nourishment and emphasize maintaining relationships. Management of emotions is essential in these trying times and can be realized through appropriate counseling, relaxation techniques, yoga, mindfulness practices and surrender to one’s higher power.
A restoration of meaning to one’s work does much to maintain energy. An increased appreciation of orthopedic surgeons’ profound privilege to mitigate suffering may neutralize even the most oppressive practice schemes.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts