Has Physician Burnout Really Eased? And What Might That Mean for Health IT Leaders?

It’s become impossible for the leaders of patient care organizations to escape the subject of physician burnout; that issue has become the subject of innumerable articles, blogs, research reports, and discussion panels at the most prestigious and high-profiles across the U.S. And that level of prominence is for good reason: if significant numbers of physicians decide that practicing medicine is simply too stressful an endeavor, the U.S. healthcare system is headed for a real disaster: with the Baby Boomers aging and levels of chronic disease exploding, American society will lack the supply of doctors needed to care for patients, healthcare system-wide.

Anecdotally speaking, the stories have become omnipresent. But how accurately are studies, surveys, and reports conveying the phenomenon? And what are the latest trends? Well, as Healthcare Innovation Managing Editor Rajiv Leventhal reported on Feb. 22, “A study recently published in the February issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, conducted by researchers from the AMA, the Mayo Clinic and Stanford University School of Medicine found 44 percent of U.S. physicians exhibited at least one symptom of burnout in 2017, compared with 54 percent in 2014 and 46 percent in 2011. In comparison, the overall prevalence of burnout among U.S. workers was 28. percent in 2017, similar to levels found in 2014 (28 percent) and 2011 (29 percent).”