FEATURE
RETHINKING BURNOUT, MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING by David McKay Wilson
Physician burnout was at epidemic levels before COVID hit with a vengeance in 2020. More than a year later, the pandemic has added to the pressures faced by a broad range of healthcare professionals and those studying to enter the professions. What they experience on the job and in the classroom can bring on the classic symptoms of burnout: emotional exhaustion, a loss of identity and feelings of inadequacy related to chronic work-related stress. Clinicians say caregivers, who dedicate their professional lives to the service of others, often tend to forget about what they can do to care for themselves. At a time when job demands have intensified, mental health professionals and university and hospital administrators are exploring ways to address the issue.
A heavy toll on healthcare workers Among those on the front lines as a health psychologist is Angela L. Kurzyna, MA, PsyD ’13, BCB, executive
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PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE
director of Moorestown Integrative Wellness in Moorestown, New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. She was one of four medical professionals who spoke to Digest Magazine about what they’ve seen in the field, and what interventions they have developed to address the issues. “Healthcare workers are burned out, beyond a shadow of a doubt,” says Dr. Kurzyna, who supports a range of health practitioners in the Delaware Valley: physicians, physician assistants, nurses, fellow psychologists, pharmacists. “Burnout and compassion fatigue had been increasing over the past few years, but COVID was the tipping point for so many. There was a baseline of burnout going on, and then the advent of COVID made things significantly worse. Fatigued, highly anxious, experiencing sleep disturbances—so many healthcare professionals just couldn’t turn the pandemic off.” The efforts by healthcare professionals to respond to the clinical struggles of the pandemic have taken a toll,
