What is driving physicians to the edge of despair?

The high rates of physician burnout and suicide are a systemic catastrophe and addressing the issue requires a sense of shared purpose, community, and connectedness among healthcare providers, as well as interventions like bi-weekly physician-facilitated discussion groups. Here's an illustration: I had been penning a meagre medical column for a reputable Midwestern daily for some years. Simple, uncomplicated recommendations to exercise, get enough sleep, and eat fruits and vegetables are often ignored by our patients despite being life-saving advice. A major medical publication was switching from lengthy reviews to shorter pieces of around 1,000 words that addressed current issues, included a few useful references, and kept in mind that the readers were largely general practitioners and some experts. As I had previously worked as a medical oncologist for 25 winters at the Mayo Clinic and supposedly had some experience writing columns, I was asked to address the topic of professional burnout.