Dread … rhymes with dead…which is sort of what you feel inside when you are burned out.
Dread … as in, “Do I have to go to work?”
Suspicion/cynicism … as in, “Are my patients/staff trying to make my life miserable?”
These and similar thoughts have little alarm bells tied to them … and may indicate burnout. And yes, it happens to doctors. In fact, the statistics say that it’s burning through doctors. More on that later ….
As in you have no more fuel … nothing more to give. Except maybe some irritation.
Alan Daniels, M.D., an orthopedic spine surgeon at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, published his study, “Orthopaedic Surgeon Burnout: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention,” in the April 16, 2018 edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Dr. Daniels described his motivation for the study to OTW, “My colleagues and I found that an alarming percentage of orthopedic surgeons showed symptoms of burnout—50%. The highest numbers were amongst residents and chairs. These individuals often feel like they have a lack control over their lives.”
“Residents are told where to go, how long to work, and in general, live according to others’ schedules. Chairs stress over their work with their department, national societies, their educational responsibilities, their practice, and are pulled in so many directions that avoiding burnout seems like a minor miracle.”
Work Hour Restrictions Don’t Lower Stress
The residents … aren’t they working less anyway? Didn’t the work hour restrictions take care of a lot of the stress?
“We found that implementation of work-hour restrictions in the U.S. has not improved the burnout rates in American trainees,” says Dr. Daniels. “It is not simply an issue of numbers of hours worked—80 hours are still a lot of hours to work. These people still lose a great amount of control of their lives and are understandably bothered by not being able to make their own decisions.”
“But we can’t just simply follow the European model where trainees work fewer hours, but the program of study is extended. Some studies show that this is actually more difficult for trainees because training is prolonged and those involved feel like they are not getting enough training.”
And what about the chairs, essentially self-selecting people who are determined to scale every academic mountain? “It is harder to give chairs freedom. They tend to be very ambitious people who are at the top of their game … and they got there for a reason. At some point they hit the ceiling of achievement and have nowhere to go.”
So, get them three assistants!
