A Physician's Guide to Burnout Prevention|eMedEvents

 Physician burnout is on the rise, which can cause the practice of modern medicine to suffer. It is an issue that affects the entire healthcare system and every type of healthcare professional—not only physicians themselves. At a glance, physician burnout is primarily identified and categorized by: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of diminished accomplishment.

A variety of workplace factors contribute to burnout in healthcare professionals; the major ones include long shifts, demanding on-call responsibilities, lack of appreciation from both coworkers and patients, and poor workplace relationships. Prolonged burnout can result in depression, substance abuse, and even suicidal ideation, alongside an overall poorer quality of patient care rendered by the affected practitioner.

The potential for serious medical errors multiplies when HCP burnout comes into play. It is crucial for hospital management and healthcare professionals themselves to quickly identify and address cases of burnout before patient harm can occur. Healthcare expenditures are under more scrutiny than ever before due to the plethora of lawsuits arising as a result of medical errors.

“Burnout” is a psychological syndrome that can be described as “emotional and tiring situations associated with the working environment”. It typically occurs as a result of various workplace stressors, including an excessive workload, long hours, clerical burdens, managing electronic medical records (EMR), inefficient work processes, difficult patient decisions, poor work-life balance, hostile working environments, and organizational factors—misaligned organization culture, values, and leadership styles.

When a healthcare professional is suffering from burnout, the potential for all types of error increases greatly, such as medication errors, diagnostic errors, and poor decision-making. In these situations, the “best” case scenario is damage to the patient’s trust rather than their physical person; yet a patient who does not trust their physician is less likely to adhere to treatment and medication regimens. Additionally, physician burnout has been linked to early retirement, poor overall productivity, job dissatisfaction, higher rates of absenteeism, and difficulty maintaining relationships outside of the workplace.