Physician Burnout: A Healthcare Crisis With Huge Human & Legal Ramifications

Solve Physician Burnout 

Doctors, physicians and surgeons are tasked with probably the greatest responsibility of all - preserving human life and helping people in dire need of treatment. It's a job that comes with its fair share of struggles, and for the most part, doctors are up to the task. However, over the last few years, a far darker side of this pressure has emerged to create bigger challenges. Physician burnout has become a bigger topic of discussion lately because its rates and its extent are quite staggering. 

According to recent studies, up to 45% of resident physicians experience some form of burnout, chronic stress, depression and other mental health challenges. This isn't an isolated issue. If the people tasked with people's lives are struggling mentally it will have far-reaching devastating effects. 

Burnout is bad for everyone, it affects how we show up in our jobs and it affects how healthy we are. The challenge is when this burnout becomes an issue in a field where it can do a lot more harm. What are some of the impacts of physician burnout on the lives of these doctors and the lives of the people they treat and even their families?

Why is burnout a problem we need to solve as soon as possible, and what solutions can we put in place? 

Causes of Physician Burnout

Inhumane Schedules 

In many fields, the idea of working yourself to the bone is silently expected or encouraged, and medicine is one of them, but the truth is, human beings don't function all that well when they are exhausted and drained. We need rest in order to perform at our highest level. Tired and sleep-deprived people are generally slower at decision making, and not having enough rest actually affects their cognitive function. Imagine what kind of effect this would have on people carrying out treatments and highly delicate surgical procedures. According to legal firm Sommers Schwartz, P.C., "Healthcare providers such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are responsible for helping their patients stay healthy. However, medical errors are consistently listed in the top causes of death in the United States." Physicians with burnout are more likely to make huge errors, and if the healthcare field isn't working to improve the working conditions of doctors, there are going to be more problems. We will see more cases of malpractice and other avoidable catastrophes. Prioritizing the mental health of physicians will improve the lives of healthcare professionals and patients alike. 

Back-to-Back Patient Appointments 

The other reason a lot of physicians are struggling with massive amounts of burnout is the way they are expected to meet with their patients. In a hospital system where you're expected to keep your patient appointments short in order to see more in a day, physicians can really find themselves having a hard time. Seeing a patient every 30 minutes makes it hard for the doctor to truly monitor and help their patients but it can also tire them out, which can lead to mistakes. 

Trauma 

Healthcare professionals, doctors and nurses do a very critical job - and sometimes it's not just providing treatment, it's actually keeping people alive in the worst of times. Think about the last 2 years and how traumatic it has been for frontline workers. Whether they were working in hospitals, clinics or at nursing homes, healthcare professionals experienced a lot of dark days. Not only were they dealing with unprecedented volumes of sick people, they also saw a lot of people die. This is a tremendous trauma that will definitely have a huge impact on someone's emotions. It's a crisis that has created a whole lot of burnout, and even made a lot of physicians consider leaving the field completely. 

Ways to Fix Physician Burnout 

• Provide more mental health support and care for doctors and nurses 

• Introduce more humane schedules that allow for rests, breaks and vacations 

• Hire more medical staff to solve the short staffing issues 

• Reduce corporate pressure on the performance of physicians 

Physician burnout isn't just a small issue, it's a huge crisis that has the potential to completely upend the lives of a lot of people. A culture of exhaustion, sleep-deprivation and stress doesn't yield good results, both on a legal front, but more importantly, on the human front. The lives of the people who take care of us when we need medical help need to be improved, because it will make every single aspect of society so much better.

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