As we continue to bandy about the term burnout, I believe it’s helpful to go back to basics and spell out what it is and isn’t. While subscribers to Physician Interrupted may be more acquainted with the nuances of the term as we’ve delved into it in other posts, stepping back periodically and seeing the big picture is important, especialy for those newly visiting.
Yes, roughly 50% of physicians (and likely a comparable proportion of nurses and all other direct care providers) are grappling with some degree of burnout. And its prevalence is probably even higher now due to the immense stresses related to providing medical care in this sustained pandemic.
But as we saw in the previous series on the Matrix of Clinician Distress, while burnout is one manifestation of occupational distress, not all clinician distress is due to burnout, nor does it manifest with the same stress symptoms as burnout.
Getting the “occupational stress diagnosis” right is criticaly important. Because only then can we hope to design and implement the most appropriate remedies.
[The above slides are from the “Approaching and Remedying Burnout” webinar I co-presented in October ‘21 on behalf of NorCal Insurance. Our focus there was specifically on Organizational Approaches to Burnout. You can access it freely here.]
In subsequent posts, we’ll more deeply explore each of these components, how they show up in the clinician and why the crippling impact of burnout is so important. And we’ll highlight some of the approaches – both individual and organizational – that can be helpful to reverse the tide of erosive burnout.
I hope you’ll join us.
As video posting is a new offering on the Substack writers’ platform, I’m not yet clear how’s the best way to utilize its capabilities and integrate it with the existing article and podcast modalities. I truly appreciate your interest – and patience – as we venture into this wealth of media possibilities.
Deconstructing Burnout