It’s not a myth that medical education and practice are extremely demanding. In fact the problem of physicians burning out is getting to be worse and worse reports Mayo Clinic. A three year study which has evaluated burnout and work-life balance among physicians shows that American physicians are overall not doing as well today as they were three years ago.
There has been a widening gap between rates of burnout among US. workers in general and American physicians. Mayo Clinic researchers working in partnership with the American Medical Association made a comparison of data from 2014 to metrics which they had collected in 2011 and came to the conclusion that greater than half of all American physicians are not experiencing professional burnout.
Tait Shanafelt, M.D. says that manifestations of burnout include loss of meaning in your work, feelings of being ineffective, and exhaustion emotionally. It has been observed that more physicians than previously in just about every specialty share these feelings. This creates problems for the medical profession, patients, the doctors themselves and their families.
According to the researchers physician burnout is associated with poor patient care and high physician turnover. This all results in a serious decline in the overall quality of the entire health care system. There were 45 percent of physicians who met the criteria for burnout in 2011. In 2014 54 percent of physicians met the criteria for burnout. A decline in satisfaction with work-life balance has also been noted.
These findings has been published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. While taking note of increasing rates of physician burnout the researchers have concluded leadership qualities of physician supervisors appears to have an impact on the well-being and satisfaction of individual physicians who are working in health care organizations. This should be kept in mind in a consideration of the proper selection of physicians for leadership roles in the medical profession.
The problem of physician burnout is serious and must be aggressively approached in a humane manner in the best interests of physicians and patients alike. A greater emphasis on a healthy work-life balance should be encouraged for medical students, interns, resident physicians and thereafter. The need for adequate time for rest and relaxation for medical students and physicians should never be underestimated.
