Physician burnout peaked in the first two years of Covid-19 pandemic after a six-year decline that ended in 2020, according to a new study published in the medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
“As the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic are hopefully behind us, there is an urgent need to deal with the doctors who have put their all into our country’s response to COVID-19, too often to the detriment their own well-being,” American Medical Association President Dr. Jack Resneck Jr. said in a press release.
Dr. Tait Shanafelt, professor of medicine and chief wellness officer at Stanford Medicine in California, led a study that examines the wellness of physicians and workers in all other fields in the United States over three-year intervals , from 2011.
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The next one is scheduled for fall 2023.
But the study added an additional electronic survey that only included physicians from late 2021 to early 2022, about 21 months after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
COVID has worsened physician burnout
The studies found that the overall prevalence of burnout among American doctors was 62.8% in 2021, compared to 38.2% in 2020, 43.9% in 2017, 54.4% in 2014 and 45, 5% in 2011, according to the WADA press release.
According to a professor of medicine and director of wellness at Stanford Medicine in California, “The sharp increase in physician burnout over the past 12 months is alarming and has critical implications.”
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“The sharp increase in physician burnout over the past 12 months is alarming and has critical implications for medical workforce adequacy, access to care and quality of care,” Shanafelt told Fox News Digital.
“Burnout among American physicians is now at the highest level on record, with female physicians and those practicing emergency medicine, general pediatrics, and family medicine being particularly affected.”
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Shanafelt is the first-ever wellness officer appointed to a US academic medical center, according to the AMA.
An estimated 50 organizations have followed his nomination to create similar roles over the past five years, the AMA said.
Physician burnout is nothing new
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) declared physician burnout a national crisis before the COVID-19 pandemic – and released a report in 2019 on ways to combat it.
The NAM reported that up to 54% of nurses and doctors, and up to 60% of medical students and residents, suffered from burnout.
“Physicians and nurses’ passion for caring for others should not come at the expense of their safety, health, or well-being,” the National Academy of Medicine said.
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But now the organization is calling it a “code red”.
“The past two years of heightened stressors that COVID-19 has placed on our health care system put clinicians in the spotlight,” the academy said on its website.
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The chief medical officer has sounded the alarm
Earlier this year, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm about what he called a national health care burnout crisis that is being exacerbated by the pandemic.
“The nation’s health depends on the well-being of our healthcare workers,” Murthy said in a statement.
“COVID-19 has been a uniquely traumatic experience for healthcare workers and their families, pushing them beyond their breaking point.”
Health care burnout is having ripple effects on the country’s public health infrastructure, the surgeon general says.
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More than half of public health workers reported symptoms of at least one mental health condition, such as anxiety, depression and increased levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), due to the pandemic, in the opinion of the surgeon general.
But health care burnout is also impacting the nation’s public health infrastructure.
Shortage of healthcare workers announced
Over the next five years, many predict a national shortage of more than three million low-wage health care workers, according to the advisory.
And the Association of American Medical Colleges predicts the demand for doctors will outstrip the supply, forecasting a shortage of up to 139,000 doctors by 2033.
“The highest suicide rate is among physicians, so it’s critical to recognize early signs of physician burnout and provide resources to relieve physician fatigue.”
Yet a study estimates that one in five doctors plan to leave their current practice within two years, according to the AMA.
Urgent call to action
“There is strong evidence that organizational and health care delivery system interventions to reduce administrative burden and improve the practice environment can reduce burnout,” Shanafelt told Fox News Digital.
“It’s time to act.”
Among the AMA’s goals are support for telehealth, Medicare compensation reform, combating “inappropriate scope expansions” by non-physicians, reducing the burden of prior authorizations – and reducing physician burnout and stigmatization of mental health issues.
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Shanafelt argues in a recent article for a “Phase of Wellness 2.0” that replaces the sometimes adversarial relationship between physicians and administrators “with a physician-administrator partnership mindset to create practical and sustainable solutions.”
“Physicians are recognized to be subject to the same human limitations that affect all human beings, with attention to appropriate staffing, breaks and rest as part of performance.”
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The AMA sets out five goals to improve physician wellness in the AMA’s Recovery Plan for American Physicians, which was released in June to address the needs of physicians.
This includes supporting telehealth, reforming Medicare compensation, opposing “inappropriate scope expansions” by non-physicians, reducing the burden of prior authorizations, and reducing burnout. physicians and the stigma of mental health issues.
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Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox News medical contributor and family and emergency physician, also weighed in on the matter.
“The highest suicide rate is among physicians, so recognizing early signs of physician burnout and providing resources to relieve physician fatigue is critical in all aspects of medicine for better patient outcomes. — and ultimately a physician’s overall health and well-being,” she says.