Physician Burnout Impact

We as physicians can be a tough lot of people. Let’s face it, we had to be to make it through medical school and our fellowship sane and ready to help others. Often, this can lead to a syndrome of not taking the proper care of ourselves, and in some cases, being accused of being horrible patients when the physical effects of not taking care of ourselves start to manifest. Physician burnout can be a real concern for all physicians because of the type of job we take on. We want to be able to take on the tough cases, work the long hours required, and still have a personal life, too, but sometimes we go about it in the wrong way. Plus, there may be environmental stresses that contribute to being overwhelmed professionally, which often can leach these …show more content…
At work, these are often things like poor work performance, medical errors and omissions that you wouldn’t have normally made without the effect of burnout. At home, you can usually expect to have strained relationships with your loved ones and friends, the possibility of divorce, substance abuse, and sadly, suicide. These impacts can all turn that medical career that you worked so hard to achieve into ashes in your mouth. Ultimately, you know that when you’re facing burnout, nothing seems to go as planned. You can start to lose interest in your patients, you start to not want to have anything to do with work, and often just struggle to get through a day.

Causes of Burnout at a Personal Level

The causes of burnout at a personal level can come from different sources depending on the physician, and may not always be the same for every person that experiences it.

Some of the factors that are believed to contribute to physician burnout are: - A loss of autonomy
- Decreased control
- Lost time due to administration requirements
- Broken healthcare