The Wicked Problem of Physician Well-Being

Jina L Sinskey; Rebecca D Margolis; Amy E Vinson

doi:10.1016/j.anclin.2022.01.001

The Wicked Problem of Physician Well-Being

Anesthesiol Clin. 2022 Jun;40(2):213-223. doi: 10.1016/j.anclin.2022.01.001. Epub 2022 May 4.

Authors

Jina L Sinskey¹, Rebecca D Margolis², Amy E Vinson³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA. Electronic address: Jina.Sinskey@ucsf.edu.
² Department of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/@RebeccaMargolis.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: https://twitter.com/@imswimming3.

Abstract

The collective threat to physician well-being is a complex issue with no clear solution. Even before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, physicians suffered from widespread burnout and moral injury, with negative consequences for patient care, physician health, and the health care system. Initial clinician well-being efforts leaned heavily on individual-focused interventions. However, workplace culture and environment are key factors that affect burnout, and therefore clinician well-being efforts require both individual-focused and systems-level interventions. A sustainable culture of support in medicine is necessary to foster physician well-being.

Keywords: Burnout; Physician well-being; Professionalism; Wellness.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Burnout, Professional* / prevention & control
COVID-19*
Humans
Medicine*
Patient Care
Physicians*