How Does Physician Burnout Impact Professional Effort?

Amanda Balbi

Over the past 2 years, physicians have reduced their professional work hours due to burnout and dissatisfaction in the workplace, according to a new Mayo Clinic report.

A physician shortage is expected in the United States over the next 10 years. In an effort to understand the cause of the shortage, researchers examined how burnout and professional satisfaction affects physicians’ professional effort.
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For their study, researchers evaluated administrative and payroll records of faculty physicians at Mayo Clinic centers in Arizona, Florida, and Minnesota from October 1, 2008, to October 1, 2014.

Researchers also administered surveys in October 2011 and October 2013 to record emotional exhaustion and satisfaction scores.

After analyzing the data, researchers found that more physicians were working less than full-time in 2014 than in 2008 (16% versus 13.5%, respectively).

For every 1-point increase in the 7-point emotional exhaustion score, physicians were more likely to cut their hours over the following 2 years. Similarly, for every 1-point decrease in the 5-point satisfaction score, physicians were more likely to reduce their hours over the following year.

“Among physicians in a large health care organization, burnout and declining satisfaction were strongly associated with actual reductions in professional work effort over the following 24 months,” researchers concluded.

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Shanafelt TD, Mungo M, Schmitgen J, et al. Longitudinal study evaluating the association between physician burnout and changes in professional work effort. Mayo Clin Proc. 2016;91(4):422-431.