In a survey of U.S. physicians, published in Archives of Internal Medicine, Emergency Physicians hold the dubious honor of being the most “burned out” specialty. This estimation of burnout is based on survey questions regarding emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Unsurprisingly, dermatology was not a terribly burned out specialty – likely because they also ranked quite highly in time for personal and family life. Surgical specialties, despite ranking at the bottom for family life, were only in the middle of the road for burnout – probably indicating the nature of the work plays a role in the strain. Self-selection bias always plays a role in these surveys, of course, considering the response rate was only 26%.
Compared with the employed general population, physicians were more burned out and had less time for family – which may or may not be related to the 25% more hours per week worked, although, there were many differences between the physician cohort surveyed and the comparison.
The New York Times discusses this article and uses a vignette of a “missed diagnosis” as symptomatic of the disruption of quality of care due to burnout. While it may be true that burnout relates to healthcare quality, the specific case presented seems to fall more into a category of reasonable conservative management of the most likely condition, with appropriate further enquiry made at a re-visit due to persistent symptoms.
“Burnout and Satisfaction With Work-Life Balance Among US Physicians Relative to the General US Population”
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1351351