Approximately 18
months ago I hung up my stethoscope and retired from my occupation as a primary
care internist. I was miserable and disillusioned with my precious area of
medicine. The increasing levels of bureaucratic tasks and documentation, too
little time to spend with patients, and pay that was not consistent with my
years of training and education made me, simply, burned out. According to a new
report by Medscape, burnout is commonly signified by a loss of excitement for
work, feelings of cynicism, and a low sense of achievement. Burnout happens
when someone experiences constant stress with no capacity to recover from it
day to day. By all measures, burnout is growing rapidly. Rates are being
reported by survey results among doctors from 30 to 65%. Trends demonstrate
that physicians in primary care or emergency medicine have the highest rates of
burnout.
The effects of burnout are extremely real. Doctor suicide rates are higher than the overall public. Suicide is also the second leading cause of death among medical students. Other effects include diminished quality of care, loss of doctors in the profession, divorce, addiction, and severely diminished quality of life.
Many physicians are feeling the stress of bureaucratic pressure and the loss of autonomy resulting in animosity of the present practice environment. Political uncertainty, the danger of lawsuits, struggles for monetary compensation for services, and also the pressure to deliver the very best patient care despite these challenges, are some of the factors which may lead to burnout. Many physicians feel admission of depression or inadequacy can be career ending. The self reliant culture of medicine doesn't support taking care of oneself. There are methods to reduce stress, but it is unlikely that burnout will go away until doctors can recover some element of control over the system in which they work.
Please share your
physician burnout experiences with us.
Can it lead to compromised patient care and medical malpractice
The effects of burnout are extremely real. Doctor suicide rates are higher than the overall public. Suicide is also the second leading cause of death among medical students. Other effects include diminished quality of care, loss of doctors in the profession, divorce, addiction, and severely diminished quality of life.
Many physicians are feeling the stress of bureaucratic pressure and the loss of autonomy resulting in animosity of the present practice environment. Political uncertainty, the danger of lawsuits, struggles for monetary compensation for services, and also the pressure to deliver the very best patient care despite these challenges, are some of the factors which may lead to burnout. Many physicians feel admission of depression or inadequacy can be career ending. The self reliant culture of medicine doesn't support taking care of oneself. There are methods to reduce stress, but it is unlikely that burnout will go away until doctors can recover some element of control over the system in which they work.
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