3 things leaders should know about physician burnout

About one-half of physicians reported feeling burned out, according to a recent Medscape survey. The survey found some variation in burnout rates based on physicians’ race and ethnicity. With this in mind, JudyAnn Bigby, MD, a senior fellow with Mathematica Policy Research, who has researched physician ethnicity and professional satisfaction, shared three takeaways for healthcare leaders:

• Physicians’ satisfaction is related to how well the work they do aligns with their mission-driven sense of why they went into medicine
• One of the factors that predicts whether physicians are satisfied or experiencing burnout is their sense of being part of a community so healthcare leaders should reward and value physicians who spend interacting with the community outside of clinical practice
• There is a correlation between physician satisfaction and patient satisfaction. Studies have found that when physicians aren’t satisfied, their patients are also less likely to be satisfied.

Source: HealthLeaders Media