Dean : Physician burnout ‘ a systemic issue ’

Physician burnout is worsening, but organizations and individuals can counter the trend, speakers asserted at a Stanford Medicine-sponsored conference on the topic. “This is not just individuals acting out,” said Lloyd Minor, MD, dean of the School of Medicine. “This is a systemic issue that we face in the profession.” The American Conference on Physician Health, which took place Oct. 12-13 in San Francisco, attracted 425 attendees, mostly physicians, from 44 states and seven countries. It featured a range of speakers, from medical students to experts on physician burnout. They shared personal experiences, presented research and offered tips on coping with stress. Tait Shanafelt, MD, the chief wellness officer at Stanford Medicine, noted that nearly half of physicians — 45 percent — currently show at least one symptom of burnout. Not only do burnedout physicians provide lower-quality care, he noted, but replacing physicians who leave because of burnout costs the United States $5 billion a year. He added that the problem can spiral within an organization: “There’s an infectious component of burnout,” he said. Other members of the care team “learn cynicism.” Conference speakers agreed that administrative requirements — such as entering information into electronic health records, or EHRs, and filling prescriptions — contribute to physician unhappiness. But they also blamed a toxic culture in many health care organizations, along with a tendency among physicians to deny their own suffering.