Professional Burnout Associated with Physicians Limiting Practice

Professional Burnout Associated with Physicians Limiting Practice

Professional Burnout Associated with Physicians Limiting Practice

 

By Bob Nellis

Dallas, TX | Posted April 5, 2016

At a time when the nation is facing projected physician shortages, a Mayo Clinic study shows an association between burnout and declining professional satisfaction with physicians reducing the number of hours they devote to clinical practice. The findings appear in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

“A dramatic increase in burnout has occurred among U.S. physicians over the last several years,” says Tait Shanafelt, M.D., Mayo Clinic physician and lead author of the study. “Using independent payroll records, this study objectively found that the measured level of burnout today predicts whether physicians will cut their work hours over the next 12-24 months.”

Researchers from Mayo Clinic and Sirota Survey Intelligence linked data from validated surveys assessing burnout and work satisfaction from physicians at Mayo Clinic to seven years of administrative and payroll records for doctors at the institution. Although none of the Mayo Clinic investigators had access to any identifying information, the Sirota team was able to pair the payroll data Mayo provided to survey responses. The investigators found that for every point increase in the seven-point scale measuring emotional exhaustion (a domain of burnout), there was a 40 percent greater likelihood a physician would cut back his or her work hours over the next 24 months. A similar relationship was observed for every one-point decrease in the five-point scale measuring professional satisfaction.

MEDIA CONTACT: Bob Nellis, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The longitudinal study used survey data from 1,856 physicians responding in 2011 and 2,132 physicians responding in 2013. The study included physicians on payroll at the Mayo Clinic campuses in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota. Results were adjusted for geographic site, age, sex and specialty.

Read more: http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/professional-burnout-associated-with-physicians-limiting-practice/