Hurt people hurt people. Hurt doctors hurt patients.
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In “Time Out: The Impact of Physician Burnout on Patient Care Quality and Safety in Perioperative Medicine”, Philip Shin et al. provide insights into the damaging effects of physician burnout in the care of perioperative patients.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10266854/
TL;DR Findings:
😰 Burnout is driven by chronic workplace stress, high workloads, and inadequate support.
😓 Emotional exhaustion and 👽 depersonalization among physicians have spiked since the pandemic.
💊 Burnout negatively impacts patient safety, team dynamics, and overall healthcare quality. "A negative correlation between physician burnout and patient safety has been observed. Physician burnout can double the risk of patient safety and contribute to up to 7% to 10.6% of serious medical mistakes."
📉 Financial costs include high turnover, recruitment expenses, and decreased productivity. "High rate of physician burnout imposes a high direct and indirect cost on the health care systems at a staggering $4.6 billion/year."
TL;DR Call to Action:
👩🏾⚕️ At the individual level, enhance resilience through mindfulness, relationship building, and positive psychology (PERMA: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Achievement).
👥 At the organizational level, ensure adequate staffing and resource support, address workload management, and reduce the burdens caused by EMR, "in-basket" messages, and administrative tasks.
🌎 At the cultural level, create a psychologically safe work environment, address micro- and macroaggressions, and mitigate individual stress and strain to organizational changes such as when implementing new regulations.
🍇 Use physician-driven platforms like Grapevyne, where we're dedicated to matching physicians better to open roles. A better workplace fit means doctors stay happier, stay healthier, and stay longer so the patients you serve live happier, live healthier, and live longer.
