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Editors: Kacey Montgomery, M.D. | Erica Huffman, Executive Director
www.escambiacms.org
Bulletin MAY/JUNE 2019 VOLUME 49, NO. 3
CONTENTS
Physician burnout…what is it? How do I know if I have it? What can I do about it? Many definitions of burnout have been proposed since the introduction of the term in 1970 – the year after I was born (I had no idea it was this old). The widely-accepted definition suggests burnout combines emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment. To date, no precise diagnostic criteria have been defined for this condition. Burnout is not a disease, but rather a syndrome characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, and decreased sense of efficacy. Burnout and depression may coexist but are not synonymous. It is job related and situation specific. Exhaustion is a factor, as medicine is tiring. Medicine is hard. Physicians seldom truly rest, putting in long days in the clinic and nights on call. Making things even worse, most of us won’t leave medicine and cannot change careers early on due to high debt levels. Unable or unwilling to cut back hours, change or quit our jobs, the indentured servitude of debt leaves the burned out physician trapped, depressed, or even suicidal.
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The root cause of physician burnout is placing highly motivated, empathetic physicians in a work environment in which they are unable to succeed. Physicians are asked to: - Increase productivity by administrators who have limited medical knowledge - Haggle with payers and deal with prior authorization issues
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The prevalence of the syndrome is even more difficult to assess. Rates of burnout range from four to sixty percent depending on the definition and degree of severity that is measured. To be honest, I am not sure if I have burnout or not – it depends on the time of day and situation. In general, I truly love my job – but I like less and less how I practice medicine now compared to how I did twenty-five years ago. I think most of us drift in and out of degrees of this syndrome. My symptoms can come and go quickly with a change in the work environment that precipitates them.
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