Organizations and individuals have a responsibility to fight burnout among anesthesia providers and other physicians, which remains a serious issue, according to Anesthesia Business Consultants President and CEO Tony Mira.
Here are five takeaways:
1. Healthcare systems, organizations, institutions and individual physicians should view preventing burnout as a shared responsibility.
2. Organization-level and individual-level strategies at least moderately reduce burnout, although more research is needed.
Organizational-level solutions include fair productivity targets, duty hour limits and appropriate distribution of job roles. Individual-level solutions include part-time status, efficiency and skills training, prioritizing tasks and attention to self-care.
3. Physician burnout can impact patient care by lowering quality, increasing recovery times and lowering patient satisfaction. It can also reduce physician productivity across the healthcare system and cause physicians themselves to suffer from depression or suicidal ideation.
4. Factors driving burnout include excessive workloads, inefficient work processes, clerical burdens, work-home conflicts, lack of input or control and organizational support or leadership problems. Burnout is typically more common among younger physicians and female physicians.
5. Burnout is characterized by depersonalization, emotional exhaustion and lowered feelings of accomplishment