Ask the expert: Clinician burnout and patient safety

Q: How does clinician burnout directly manifest in patient safety risks, and what early warning signs of burnout are often overlooked by hospital leadership?

Wendi Tillung, RN, senior director of transformation and innovation at Nordic: Clinician burnout often translates into safety risks through fatigue-related inattention and communication lapses. We see burned-out clinicians report significantly higher odds of patient safety errors, including medication mistakes and diagnostic oversights. I’ve seen that emotional exhaustion, cynicism, or depersonalization can erode vigilance, leading to near misses in medication administration or failure to escalate subtle patient changes.

Leadership often misses early warning signs—like clinicians skipping breaks, subtle disengagement, or declining peer communication. These early behavioral cues rarely prompt proactive support until safety falls.

Editor’s note: This Q&A was excerpted from the Credentialing Resource Center Journal.