Symptoms of Physician Burnout
Physician Burnout is a mental health issue that is caused by years of overwhelming fatigue from the demands of the job. Physicians are caught in a vicious cycle, where they work long hours and feel physically and mentally exhausted, which leads to decreased quality of care. Many physicians have turned to causes such as volunteerism or philanthropy in an attempt to take a break from their stressful lifestyle, but this also helps little for their health.
Physician burnout is a growing concern for society, patients, and health care organizations. Physicians who are burned out are more prone to make mistakes in patient care, causing adverse events and poor health outcomes. Physician burnout can cause long-term health issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress that may lead to suicide or substance abuse.
Physicians are expected to work 24-hour shifts, complete tasks quickly with intense pressure from upper management, and see dozens of patients each day without fail. Each task required is more important than the last, meanwhile, physicians (along with all other health care providers) are not compensated for the increasing amount of work they do, while also devoting their lives to medicine. Physicians are expected to spend their personal time studying medical journals and keeping up with medical news. In addition to this, physicians are responsible for participating in peer reviews of colleagues and filling out a large number of paperwork, putting them on the verge of exhaustion.
Physician burnout has been seen for years in countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany, with lower rates of physician burnout in other countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia. It is seen in both male and female physicians by a ratio of 3:2. Many causes have been identified for physician burnout, but limited research has been done to find the causes of physician burnout in countries such as the United States. The main cause of physician burnout is too much work coupled with little leisure time. Bioethicist Jean Twenge and psychologist Leonard Jason suggest that this may be due to the modern culture of working for money and having a stressful life. In fact, in 1995, only 24 percent of healthcare providers agreed with the statement "I work too hard."
In 1999 Doctor's response to burnout was in the same range as it was in 1992. Doctors are getting less sleep, have less time for themselves, have high levels of stress, and they also do not feel they are paid enough. In a poll, almost half the doctors say they would not recommend the medical profession to their children. Doctors are also less happy and feel under more stress than they did 5 years ago.
An additional Cause of Physician Burnout is the shift from fee-for-service to managed care. In this type of healthcare providers are paid based on the quality of care rather than the quantity, which takes away from physicians' autonomy by taking away their decision-making process for patient care. Patient satisfaction has dropped so much that it is now the No. 1 complaint by doctors.
The main cause of physician burnout seems to be the unrealistic expectations placed on physicians and the pressure they face related to meeting these standards.
The majority of physicians have been very worried about burnout but have very limited knowledge about it, in fact, less than 20% of physicians surveyed knew what constitutes physician burnout according to the American Medical Association.
