The panel of physicians said it was not about increasing resilience. Healthcare organizations should provide resources and reduce the burden placed on physicians.
More and more physicians are experiencing burnout, a serious concern for healthcare leaders.
Physician burnout hits all-time high, says one doctor study was announced in Mayo Clinic MinutesResearchers reported that 63% of physicians experienced burnout in 2021, compared to 38.2% in 2020. The American Medical Association teamed up with researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Colorado School of Medicine for this study.
health problems hosted a virtual roundtable with several healthcare leaders on Thursday.Alan Weil health problems The editor-in-chief asked participants and all doctors about their efforts to tackle burnout.
Some members emphasized one point early in the discussion. They focused less on strengthening physicians than on the need to make structural changes in organization and health policy.
“The problem is not individual physicians’ lack of resilience,” said Christine Sinsky, AMA’s vice president of professional satisfaction.
Policy makers pay close attention to the well-being of doctors and other health workers. President Joe Biden signed into law this year directing subsidies to medical institutions to address burnout and mental health. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, after an emergency doctor committed suicide in April 2020, health groups pushed a bill called the Lorna Breen Act.
organizational challenges
Panelists agreed that it is important to understand that burnout is different from mental illness.
“Burnout is not a mental illness,” Shinsky said. “It’s occupational distress syndrome.”
Physicians, including panel members, cite many factors that contribute to burnout. The stress of treating a COVID-19 patient for more than two yearsGrowing staff shortages are increasing the burden on doctors, especially as the health system is now seeing Patients who postponed treatment during the pandemic and are now quite ill.
But there are also more immediate burdens, such as the stress of documentation and the hassle of dealing with electronic medical record systems. According to panelists, physicians spend a lot of their time outside of work working with patient record documents.
“Burnout is both a practice and an individual phenomenon,” says Samuel T. Edwards, an assistant professor of medicine at Oregon Health and Science University and a physician with the Veterans Administration in Portland.
“Burnout is an organizational phenomenon that requires an organizational response,” says Edwards.
Many doctors do not feel their employers care about their health. In one survey, just over 1 in 3 of her doctors (36%) said their workplace culture puts health first. Investigation It was released earlier this month by the Physicians Foundation.
Amy Freeman, chief wellness officer at Hackensack Meridian Health, said healthcare providers should provide doctors with resources to seek help, but they should let doctors know what help is available.
“It is important not only to have resources, but also to make sure that doctors are aware of those resources, but more importantly, they are comfortable accessing those resources.” says Freeman.
Many doctors remain concerned about seeking mental health help. I answered that I knew that At the request of health advocates, some accreditation boards have amended their mental health questions.
Committee members agreed that reducing the administrative burden on physicians would greatly help them stay healthy.a medscape A survey of physicians conducted in January 2022 found the bureaucratic aspects of healthcare to be the number one contributor to burnout.
“Our doctors are incredibly burdened and frustrated when it comes to documentation,” Freeman said.
An AMA study found that doctors are losing job fulfillment, largely due to burnout. Just over half (57.5%) of all doctors say they would choose a career as a doctor if they could do it over again, compared to his 72.2% in 2020.
The Burden of Women, Doctors of Color
Female doctors particularly suffer from burnout, panel members agreed.A survey by the Physicians Foundation found that more than two in three female doctors (68%) said they experienced burnout. 58% of male doctors.
Vineet Arora, professor of medicine and dean of medical education at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, said:
Female doctors suffer greater career setbacks due to COVID-19 pandemicaccording to a study published in Jama Network OpenFemale doctors were more likely to have work-related conflicts and symptoms of depression, and were also doing more childcare work.
Data on mental health and physicians of color are clearly lacking, said Rachel Villanueva, clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. Not only does she stress the need to “diversify research and the need for color researchers,” she stresses the need to find more researchers who are at least interested in the challenges facing color doctors. doing.
Black doctors and other underrepresented groups endure the same burden of administrative duties and long hours. But doctors who are members of minority groups face not only microaggressions and prejudices, but also “systemic racism.”
Doctors ‘deserve better’
Even though doctors are increasingly dealing with burnout, there’s no clear evidence that it’s negatively impacting patient care, says Lawrence Casarino, a professor of health policy and research at Weill Cornell Medical School. says Mr. Casalino was the first author of a recent paper. study of health problems On how physician burnout affected patient outcomes.
“At least in the short term, it may improve patient quality for burnt-out physicians,” Casalino said. “Conscientious doctors work harder than others, may be more concerned about their patients, and may be more prone to burnout.”
But “how long it can last is another question,” he added.
The Physicians Foundation Lorna Breen Foundation To raise awareness of the need to protect the mental health of physicians. They also created a campaign, Vital Signs, to prevent doctors from committing suicide.
Gary Price, president of the Doctors Foundation, said he was part of a sad fraternity. He is one of many doctors who have lost colleagues to suicide.
“There’s no denying that our doctors need and deserve better,” Price said.
help is available
