Letter from the Editor #655: How to Avoid Burnout

Many of us have been seeing patients for a long time and as we squeeze more patients into each hour to be profitable, there is an increasing risk of burnout.

This burnout can lead to misdiagnoses according to Dr. Paul Griner, MD, and past president of the American College of Physicians. He also notes that it’s vital to spend time talking to and listening to patients — thorough patient histories, observation and a good physical exam, are often the difference between an accurate diagnosis and a wasted battery of unnecessary diagnostic tests.

This type of burnout can be characterized by detachment, diminishing empathy, and emotional exhaustion. In a study of over 7,000 medical professionals done by the Archives of Internal Medicine 46% reported at least one symptom of burnout, and their study showed that this burnout started developing while they were still in medical school. To prevent this burnout from worsening, Dr. Griner recommends following these five guidelines:

• Take care of yourself.
• Take time to nurture relationships.
• Actively listen to your patients and pay attention to what’s going on in their lives. It will not only help you give them better care, you’ll find it makes your work more interesting and satisfying.
• Do what’s necessary to achieve a work-life balance.
• Participate actively in health reforms that will return a greater level of control to physicians and their patients.

This burnout will only increase over time as we see the cost of education rise, the increased knowledge required, and the extra stress of long rotations.

According to a recent article in JAMA, shorter, two-week clinical rotations appear to be similar to four-week rotations with respect to patient revisits within 30 days (a measure of patient care), may decrease burnout and stress among attending physicians, and these shorter rotations could allow more free time again decreasing the rate of burnout.

Dave Joffe, Editor-in-chief