Clinician burnout during the times of COVID-19

Burnout amongst health and care workers is already an issue which has been close to the top of the agenda and this was before the times of COVID-19. It is important to understand why this was the case as a better understanding of the causes could well lead us to discover some potential solutions.

Burnout amongst health workers has been extensively studied and documented over the past few years and we are all very aware of the potential contribution of some of the ways we practice 21st century medicine to the increase in levels of depersonalisation amongst front line workers. From increased complexity of pathways, EMRs that are not configured to follow clinical flows, legal considerations, the changes in relationship between patients and their carers and indeed the shift that has taken place over the past few years where patients are assuming the role of consumers of care. Many of these trends and shifts are desirable. The shift from individual opinion to evidence-based care and better clinical governance, the shift from passive receptive patients to active assertive and activated consumers have both positively contributed to positive outcomes for example.