Physician Burnout Spreading (Part 1)

Last week, I went to our integrated health care network meeting.  Among the topics was physician burnout.  Lately, this is a “hot” topic with a lot of publicity regarding this increasingly-common problem.

At our meeting, some of the keep points -noted below & in the slides that follow:

  • Physician burnout rate is increasing based on most recent studies
  • Many physicians, 42%, would not choose medicine as their career today
  • Manifestations of burnout include “compassion” fatigue

Physicians may be more at risk for burnout due to the following:

  • Frequent personality characteristics: workaholics, accustomed to delayed gratification
  • Practice aspects: long hours, huge responsibilities

How to Prevent Burnout:

  • Lower stress –recharge with outside activities: hobbies, excursions, charitable work, physical activities, and emotional/spiritual
  • Resources: Stop Physician Burnout, Burnout Prevention Matrix  both by  Dike Drummond

 

Related blog post: Quality Care = Work Satisfaction for Physicians

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1 thought on “Physician Burnout Spreading (Part 1)

  1. Hobbies, excursions, spiritual……..unfortunately physicians have played a limited role in the changes with the healthcare system but have bared the greatest weight. There’s a lack of evidence that the changes are effective as well. Dike Drummond looks to have a great deal of support from many healthcare systems, I would be cautious on his advice.

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