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Wellness committee key to addressing physician burnout

Medical Staff Briefing, June 1, 2010

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Medical Staff Briefing.

About 60% of practicing physicians will experience burnout at some point in their careers, says Michael Krasner, MD, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Rochester in New York. 

If that statistic doesn?t surprise you, perhaps this one will: 50% of first- and second-year medical students experience burnout and depression, says Luis Sanchez, MD, director of Physician Health Services, Inc., a Massachusetts Medical Society corporation in Waltham.

?We have a problem if our training of students is causing burnout,? says Sanchez. ?I don?t think that we are accepting into medical school depressed people who are susceptible to burnout. It?s the training overload, multi-tasking, and everything we need to know.?

Until recently, burnout has been a closet issue?physicians dealt with it alone. However, research indicates that burnout affects more than just physicians?it affects their patients, too. According to ?Enhancing Meaning in Work: A Prescription for Preventing Physician Burnout and Promoting Patient-Centered Care? in the September 23, 2009 Journal of the American Medical Association, burnout can influence physicians? prescribing habits, referral practices, and professionalism, and it increases the likelihood of medical errors. In addition, burnout can affect patients? adherence to their care plans, the trust and confidence they have in their physicians, and their overall satisfaction with their medical care.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Medical Staff Briefing.

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