Wellbeing, emotional exhaustion, and burnout in clinicians
Despite the technological advances made in medicine over the past century, research has shown density of human resources for healthcare delivery is an important determinant of health. As we now believe that there is no health without mental health for patients we treat, the emotional well-being of clinicians who deliver health care is of utmost importance. Burnout among healthcare professionals is increasing worldwide and India is no exception. Physician burnout impacts the quality of patient care that is delivered.
Clinician wellbeing
Wellbeing of researchers
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Research from India
Following a mixed methods design, we studied well-being and emotional exhaustion in oncology clinicians in India. We found that oncology can be an immensely satisfying career choice. However, there would be times of transition that can be stressful. Help with adequate human resources to cope with increasing numbers of patients, closing the gender gap of the organisation, having an open communication culture, identifying burnout early and having access to occupational mental health services could help in alleviating the emotional distress in clinicians.
There were unique stresses during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and this helped us to learn about psychological resilience and burnout.
References:
University Press.Anand, Sudhir, and Till Bärnighausen. 2004. “Human Resources and Health Outcomes: Cross-Country Econometric Study.” Lancet 364 (9445): 1603–9.
Hodkinson, Alexander, Anli Zhou, Judith Johnson, Keith Geraghty, Ruth Riley, Andrew Zhou, Efharis Panagopoulou, et al. 2022. “Associations of Physician Burnout with Career Engagement and Quality of Patient Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) 378 (September):e070442.
Isaiah. 2023. “Physician Burnout Will Burn All of Us.” The Century Foundation. October 25, 2023. https://tcf.org/content/report/physician-burnout-will-burn-all-of-us/.
Koval, Kathryn W., Benjamin Lindquist, Christine Gennosa, Aditya Mahadevan, Kian Niknam, Sanket Patil, G. V. Ramana Rao, Matthew C. Strehlow, and Jennifer A. Newberry. 2020. “First Look at Emergency Medical Technician Wellness in India: Application of the Maslach Burnout Inventory in an Unstudied Population.” PloS One 15 (3): e0229954.