"Burnout" is an issue in every specialty and every job. Do you think plumbers and bus drivers don't get tired and pissed off? The difference is that nobody is asking these questions of physiatrists and surgeons as often because we're all told that "Emergency Medicine is the burnout specialty". The bigger and more important questions are "What is the burnout rate among physicians as a whole? What can we do to change this?"
The numbers look eerily similar from other surveys:
National Study of Burnout Among American Transplant Surgeons
Transplantation Proceedings, Volume 37, Issue 2, Pages 1399-1401
W. Bertges Yost, A. Eshelman, M. Raoufi, M. Abouljoud
Abstract
This study examines burnout in a national sample of transplant surgeons. Data analyses were conducted on a sample of 209 actively practicing transplant surgeons. Measures included the Maslach Burnout Inventory, a demographic survey, and the Surgeon Coping Inventory. Burnout was reflected in 38% of surgeons scoring high on the Emotional Exhaustion dimension, whereas 27% showed high levels of Depersonalization, and 16% had low levels of Personal Accomplishment. Several significant predictors of emotional exhaustion were identified and included questioning one's career choice, giving up activities, and perceiving oneself as having limited control over the delivery of medical services (R2 = 0.43). Those who perceived themselves as having a higher ability to control delivery of medical services and who felt more appreciated by patients had lower levels of depersonalization and were less likely to question their career choice (R2 = 0.16). Surgeons with high personal accomplishment experienced greater professional growth opportunities, perceived their institution as supportive, felt more appreciated by patients, and were less likely to question their career (R2 = 0.24). The prioritization of goals to reflect both professional and personal values accounted for a significant amount of the variance in predicting both emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment in separate regression equations. Recommendations to decrease burnout would include greater institutional support, increased opportunities for professional growth, and greater surgeon control over important services to facilitate efficient work. Coping strategies to moderate stress and burnout are also beneficial and should include prioritizing goals to reflect both professional and personal values.
and
1: Surgery. 2001 Oct;130(4):696-702; discussion 702-5. Links
Burnout among American surgeons.
Campbell DA Jr, Sonnad SS, Eckhauser FE, Campbell KK, Greenfield LJ.
Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Mich 48109-0331, USA.
BACKGROUND: The long-term consequences of stress on the surgeon are unknown. One manifestation of stress is burnout. The purpose of this study was to measure the prevalence of burnout in actively practicing American surgeons. METHODS: The Maslach Burnout Inventory and a questionnaire of our own design were sent to 1706 graduates of various University of Michigan surgical residencies (1222) and members of the Midwest Surgical Association (484). The response rate was 44%. Responses from 582 actively practicing surgeons were the sample used for analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-two percent of actively practicing surgeons showed "high" levels of emotional exhaustion, 13% showed "high" levels of depersonalization, and 4% showed evidence for low personal accomplishment. Younger surgeons were more susceptible to burnout (r = -0.28, P <.01). Burnout was not related to caseload, practice setting, or percent of patients insured by a health maintenance organization. Important etiologic factors were a sense that work was "overwhelming" (r = 0.61, P <.01), a perceived imbalance between career, family, and personal growth (r = -0.56), P <.01), perceptions that career was unrewarding (r = -0.42, P <.01), and lack of autonomy or decision involvement (r = -0.39, P <.01). A strong association was noted between burnout elements and a desire to retire early (r = 0.50, P <.01). CONCLUSIONS: Burnout is an important problem for actively practicing American surgeons. These data could be used to modify existing surgical training curricula or as an aid to surgical leadership when negotiating about the surgical work environment.
