Cross-Post: Improving Health Care Quality Measurement to Combat Clinician Burnout
From time to time on Neurosurgery Blog, you will see us cross-posting to items from other places that we believe will interest our readers. Today’s post originally appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on Sept. 1. Neurosurgeon Anthony M. DiGiorgio, DO, MHA, FAANS, Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH and Brian J. Miller, […]
Our 500th Blog Post: Amplifying Neurosurgery’s Voice
For the past decade, Neurosurgery Blog: More Than Brain Surgery has investigated and reported on how health care policy affects patients, physicians and medical practices. Posts have discussed the state of neurosurgical sub-specialties and promoted key health care policy and advocacy initiatives to ensure patients’ timely access to care, improve neurosurgical practice and foster continued […]
Physicians Suffer From Moral injury, Not Burnout
Burnout has come to be defined as a workplace syndrome from chronic exposure to job-related stress. It is the constellation of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. More than half of physicians report at least one of these symptoms. The consequences of burnout are not just detrimental to physicians themselves, but also the people around them. […]
Addressing Clinician Burnout is Essential to Achieving the Goal of Better Care
High rates of clinician burnout in the U.S. are detrimental to the quality of care being provided and harmful to individuals in the workforce. A report “Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-Being” by the National Academy of Medicine takes a systemic approach to address burnout that focuses on the structure, […]
Preventing Moral Injury: An Interview with ZDoggMD
Zubin Damania, MD (ZDoggMD) graciously sat down for an interview with the Neurosurgery Blog for the Physician Burnout focus series. He spoke with Kurt A, Yaeger, MD, neurosurgery resident at Mount Sinai Hospital in N.Y., and chatted about neurosurgery and moral injury/burnout. Dr. Yaeger: Thanks for taking the time to chat with me for the […]
Burnout Among Physicians: A System Issue
The prevalence of physician distress has been well documented in recent years, and data suggests that 44% of U.S. physicians experience symptoms of burnout. A recent study titled, “Resilience and Burnout Among Physicians and the General US Working Population,” published in JAMA Network Open — a journal of the American Medical Association (AMA) — evaluated […]
The Time Has Come to Bring Physician Wellness to the Forefront of Our Profession
I chose to be a neurosurgeon because I sought a life bringing healing to those with neurological diseases. After completing my training with a tremendous sense of pride, I was prepared to have an impact on patients and families in their time of greatest need and hopelessness. I ended each day with the knowledge that […]
Our Health Care Workers Are Struggling — That’s Why I Introduced Legislation to Help
As the husband of a physician, I like to say that issues affecting health care workers aren’t just dinner tables issues — they’re breakfast, lunch and dinner table issues. This has never been truer than it is during the current coronavirus crisis. When the greater Chicago area was overrun with COVID-19 patients this past spring, […]
Burnout to Wellness: Dr. Joseph Maroon’s Journey to a Balanced Life
Joseph Maroon, MD, FAANS, tells an interesting story that sets the scene for his journey from burnout to wellness in his book, Square One: A Simple Guide to a Balanced Life. FLIPPING HAMBURGERS and working at gas stations are jobs some people might do during the summer months in high school, or maybe to make […]
Physician Burnout in Neurosurgery: An Under-Recognized Phenomenon
As conversations about work-life balance are becoming more prevalent, and given the stresses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a renewed interest in the issue of physician burnout. Burnout is a long-term stress reaction marked by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and a lack of sense of personal accomplishment. In recent years, the rising prevalence […]