Physician Burnout Is A Public Health Crisis: A Message To Our Fellow Health Care CEOs

The Quadruple Aim recognizes that a healthy, energized, engaged, and resilient physician workforce is essential to achieving national health goals of higher quality, more affordable care and better health for the populations we serve. Yet in a recent study of U.S. physicians, more than half reported experiencing at least one symptom of burnout—a substantial increase over previous years—indicating that burnout among physicians is becoming a national health crisis. Leadership is needed to address the root causes of this problem and reposition the health care workforce for the future. The authors of this paper—the CEOs of our respective institutions—are committing to do just that.

Dr. John NoseworthyBurnout is an experience of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of low achievement and decreased effectiveness. Although the focus of this blog is physicians, burnout is also a serious problem for nurses and other health care workers. National studies indicate that burnout is more common in physicians than U.S. workers in other fields and that the gap between physician burnout and other workers’ experience is increasing. This difference is not because of physician shortcomings. The physician selection process is rigorous and eliminates those unable or unwilling to accept this lifestyle. Most physicians are altruistic and committed to their profession. They are taught to address complex problems and to embrace challenges, including grueling training, ongoing night call, and long work hours.

The spike in reported burnout is directly attributable to loss of control over work, increased performance measurement (quality, cost, patient experience), the increasing complexity of medical care, the implementation of electronic health records (EHRs), and profound inefficiencies in the practice environment, all of which have altered work flows and patient interactions. The result is that many previously well-adjusted and engaged physicians have been stressed to the point of burnout, prompting them to retire early, reduce the time they devote to clinical work, or leave the profession altogether...