Intervention for Physician Burnout: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Burnout is an important problem for physicians, with a strong impact on their quality of life and a corresponding decrease in the quality of care with an evident economical burden for the healthcare system. However, the range of interventions used to decrease this problem could be very fragmented and with the aim to shed some light on this issue, this study reviews and summarizes the currently available studies. We conducted a systematic review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to identify studies about intervention on physician burnout. Two authors independently searched into scientific databases to analyze and review the full papers that met the inclusion criteria. As a result, from an initial search of 11029 articles, 13 studies met full criteria and were included in this review. Of the 13 studies presented, only 4 utilized randomized controlled trials, therefore the results should be interpreted with caution. Future interventions should focus on a more holistic approach using a wider range of techniques. According to the studies selected in this review, it appears that a successful intervention for burnout should take into account the broad range of causes incorporating a variety of therapeutic tools.

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Burnout and self-reported patient care in an internal medicine residency program.

Tait Shanafelt, Katharine A Bradley, Joyce Wipf … (2002)

Burnout is a syndrome of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and a sense of low personal accomplishment. Little is known about burnout in residents or its relationship to patient care. To determine the prevalence of burnout in medical residents and explore its relationship to self-reported patient care practices. Cross-sectional study using an anonymous, mailed survey. University-based residency program in Seattle, Washington. 115 internal medicine residents. Burnout was measured by using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and was defined as scores in the high range for medical professionals on the depersonalization or emotional exhaustion subscales. Five questions developed for this study assessed self-reported patient care practices that suggested suboptimal care (for example, "I did not fully discuss treatment options or answer a patient's questions" or "I made...errors that were not due to a lack of knowledge or inexperience"). Depression and at-risk alcohol use were assessed by using validated screening questionnaires. Of 115 (76%) responding residents, 87 (76%) met the criteria for burnout. Compared with non-burned-out residents, burned-out residents were significantly more likely to self-report providing at least one type of suboptimal patient care at least monthly (53% vs. 21%; P = 0.004). In multivariate analyses, burnout--but not sex, depression, or at-risk alcohol use--was strongly associated with self-report of one or more suboptimal patient care practices at least monthly (odds ratio, 8.3 [95% CI, 2.6 to 26.5]). When each domain of burnout was evaluated separately, only a high score for depersonalization was associated with self-reported suboptimal patient care practices (in a dose-response relationship). Burnout was common among resident physicians and was associated with self-reported suboptimal patient care practices.

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Association of an educational program in mindful communication with burnout, empathy, and attitudes among primary care physicians.

Michael Krasner, Ronald M Epstein, Howard Beckman … (2009)

Primary care physicians report high levels of distress, which is linked to burnout, attrition, and poorer quality of care. Programs to reduce burnout before it results in impairment are rare; data on these programs are scarce. To determine whether an intensive educational program in mindfulness, communication, and self-awareness is associated with improvement in primary care physicians' well-being, psychological distress, burnout, and capacity for relating to patients. Before-and-after study of 70 primary care physicians in Rochester, New York, in a continuing medical education (CME) course in 2007-2008. The course included mindfulness meditation, self-awareness exercises, narratives about meaningful clinical experiences, appreciative interviews, didactic material, and discussion. An 8-week intensive phase (2.5 h/wk, 7-hour retreat) was followed by a 10-month maintenance phase (2.5 h/mo). Mindfulness (2 subscales), burnout (3 subscales), empathy (3 subscales), psychosocial orientation, personality (5 factors), and mood (6 subscales) measured at baseline and at 2, 12, and 15 months. Over the course of the program and follow-up, participants demonstrated improvements in mindfulness (raw score, 45.2 to 54.1; raw score change [Delta], 8.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.0 to 10.8); burnout (emotional exhaustion, 26.8 to 20.0; Delta = -6.8; 95% CI, -4.8 to -8.8; depersonalization, 8.4 to 5.9; Delta = -2.5; 95% CI, -1.4 to -3.6; and personal accomplishment, 40.2 to 42.6; Delta = 2.4; 95% CI, 1.2 to 3.6); empathy (116.6 to 121.2; Delta = 4.6; 95% CI, 2.2 to 7.0); physician belief scale (76.7 to 72.6; Delta = -4.1; 95% CI, -1.8 to -6.4); total mood disturbance (33.2 to 16.1; Delta = -17.1; 95% CI, -11 to -23.2), and personality (conscientiousness, 6.5 to 6.8; Delta = 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1 to 5 and emotional stability, 6.1 to 6.6; Delta = 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3 to 0.7). Improvements in mindfulness were correlated with improvements in total mood disturbance (r = -0.39, P < .001), perspective taking subscale of physician empathy (r = 0.31, P < .001), burnout (emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment subscales, r = -0.32 and 0.33, respectively; P < .001), and personality factors (conscientiousness and emotional stability, r = 0.29 and 0.25, respectively; P < .001). Participation in a mindful communication program was associated with short-term and sustained improvements in well-being and attitudes associated with patient-centered care. Because before-and-after designs limit inferences about intervention effects, these findings warrant randomized trials involving a variety of practicing physicians.

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Resident burnout.

Niku K. Thomas (2004)

Intense work demands, limited control, and a high degree of work-home interference abound in residency training programs and should strongly predispose resident physicians to burnout as they do other health care professionals. This article reviews studies in the medical literature that address the level of burnout and associated personal and work factors, health and performance issues, and resources and interventions in residents. MEDLINE and PubMed databases were searched for peer-reviewed, English-language studies reporting primary data on burnout or dimensions of burnout among residents, published between 1983 and 2004, using combinations of the Medical Subject Heading terms burnout, professional, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, depersonalization and internship and residency, housestaff, intern, resident, or physicians in training and by examining reference lists of retrieved articles for relevant studies. A total of 15 heterogeneous articles on resident burnout were thus identified. The studies suggest that burnout levels are high among residents and may be associated with depression and problematic patient care. However, currently available data are insufficient to identify causal relationships and do not support using demographic or personality characteristics to identify at-risk residents. Moreover, given the heterogeneous nature and limitations of the available studies, as well as the importance of having rigorous data to understand and prevent resident burnout, large, prospective studies are needed.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Open Med (Wars)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Open Med (Wars)

Journal ID (publisher-id): med

Journal ID (pmc): med

Title: Open Medicine

Publisher: De Gruyter Open

ISSN (Electronic): 2391-5463

Publication date (Electronic): 04 July 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 13

Pages: 253-263

Affiliations

[1 ]Virtual Reality Medical Institute , Brussels, Belgium

[2 ]Virtual Reality Medical Center , San Diego, California, USA

[3 ]Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano , Milan, Italy

[4 ]deptDepartment of Psychology , universityCatholic University of Milan , Milan, Italy

Author notes

[* ] Tel. +1 858 642 0267 (office telephone) b@ 123456vrphobia.eu

Article

Publisher ID: med-2018-0039

DOI: 10.1515/med-2018-0039

PMC ID: 6034099

PubMed ID: 29992189

SO-VID: 1d471202-a9a4-4a67-b938-dc5f15364547

License:

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

History

Date received : 26 June 2017

Date accepted : 15 May 2018

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Pages: 11

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Intervention for Physician Burnout: A Systematic Review

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Most cited references 50

Burnout and self-reported patient care in an internal medicine residency program.

Association of an educational program in mindful communication with burnout, empathy, and attitudes among primary care physicians.

Resident burnout.

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