Reading between the lines for a solution to burnout

Abstract

Physician assistants (PAs) have historically reported high levels of professional satisfaction, but emerging research indicates increasing levels of professional burnout. This article explores burnout interventions in the literature and their usefulness to PAs. We propose that PAs and leaders of the profession must acknowledge and assess the phenomenon of burnout through standardized measurement at the population level, be mindful of personal boundaries in order to maintain a healthy work life balance, and commit to creating an organizational culture that sustains overall clinician well-being and fosters PA engagement.

Reappraising Burnout Syndrome in Healthcare under Sars-Cov-2 Pandemic

“…Personal interventions focus mainly on improving professional skills and promoting resilience and/or empathy [18,19,35,37,58,97,98] and are based on mindfulness 4 techniques or cognitive-behavioral techniques [2,25,83] aimed at promoting professional competence, improving interpersonal communication [13,14,22,28,70] as well as, improving coping strategies [8,24,62,64,71,99]. The mechanism underlying the practice of mindfulness holds that exposure to adverse emotions, awareness of these emotions, and their observation allow the individual to better regulate and adapt to stress [100].…”

“…Organizational interventions aim to help health professionals recognize the early signs of Burnout Syndrome, promote health and self-care [30,51] as well as restore well-being, improve decision making [28,99] productivity [100] resilience [18,54,97] and interpersonal communication [61]. In this regard, simple changes in schedule [2] workload reduction [14,19] systematization and task division [22] promotion of professional autonomy [72] feedback mechanisms [8,28] performance based pay, flexibility in working hours [51] facilitated discussion groups [19] practice of mindfulness [40,54,71,98] or other more ambitious changes [83] can make a difference. Some institutions have adopted interventions based on a cognitive-behavioral approach [14] such as time management, relaxation techniques [19,25,30,42] conscious breathing [62] self-awareness training, and promotion of a healthy work environment [28,62].…”

“…In this regard, simple changes in schedule [2] workload reduction [14,19] systematization and task division [22] promotion of professional autonomy [72] feedback mechanisms [8,28] performance based pay, flexibility in working hours [51] facilitated discussion groups [19] practice of mindfulness [40,54,71,98] or other more ambitious changes [83] can make a difference. Some institutions have adopted interventions based on a cognitive-behavioral approach [14] such as time management, relaxation techniques [19,25,30,42] conscious breathing [62] self-awareness training, and promotion of a healthy work environment [28,62]. Also, it is important to value other problems mentioned by doctors, such as lack of time for meals, lack of access to healthy options, as well as a medical culture that despises self-care [62] which are the main obstacles to a healthy and balanced diet, fundamental for the well-being [76] and performance of health professionals.…”

“…Burnout Syndrome 1 was first described by Freudenbergen in 1974 [1][2][3] comprising a set of non specific physical and psychological symptoms [4] resulting from overwork [5]. Later, in 2001, Maslach, Schaufeil and Leiter [6] considered it a three-dimensional occupational syndrome [7][8][9][10][11] characterized by Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization and loss of Personal Achievement at Work [12][13][14] which would become used in most future studies. Today Burnout is a condition of physical and psychological exhaustion [15][16][17][18] resulting from chronic exposure [19][20][21] to work stressors [3,14,[22][23][24].…”

“…Later, in 2001, Maslach, Schaufeil and Leiter [6] considered it a three-dimensional occupational syndrome [7][8][9][10][11] characterized by Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization and loss of Personal Achievement at Work [12][13][14] which would become used in most future studies. Today Burnout is a condition of physical and psychological exhaustion [15][16][17][18] resulting from chronic exposure [19][20][21] to work stressors [3,14,[22][23][24]. Emotional exhaustion [2,10] is the central component [25] of the syndrome and is characterized by physical and mental fatigue [24], lack of energy to complete tasks [5] and the feeling of being unable to renew energy [26].…”