September 14, 2022 – According to Dr. Robert Pearl, a 2022 Medscape poll on physician burnout confirms what has been painfully obvious to doctors on the frontlines of Covid-19: Their burnout is intensifying. According to the survey of 13,000 doctors, the nation’s most burned out physicians are those in emergency medicine (60%) and critical care (56%). Medscape, a leading healthcare publication, describes burnout as “long-term, unresolvable job-related stress that leads to exhaustion, cynicism and feelings of detachment.”
These types of psychological issues are a predictable outcome for physicians who’ve been fighting a continuous and often-losing battle against the coronavirus.
Among the 29 medical specialties surveyed, OB-GYN and pediatrics have reported some of the profession’s largest increases in burnout over the past two years. Compared to the 2020 Medscape poll (which included pre-pandemic data), the burnout rate for pediatric physicians is up 8% and, for OB-GYNs, 13%.
In his latest column in Repertoire Magazine, Dr. Pearl examines the root causes of burnout, which physicians are being affected the worst, and what can be done about it.