Physician Burnout: The Four Horsemen of the Burnout Apocalypse

Physician Burnout is a constant, prevalent, looming threat over doctors everywhere.

The question is why?

Our work with thousands of over stressed physicians We have isolated one of the major invisible causes of physician burnout – the pervasive mental conditioning of our training process.

Call it the “brainwashing” of our medical education if you will

In this article I will show you four “flavors” of this conditioning – how and why they develop and how they contribute to our physician burnout epidemic.

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Related:
The Four Causes of Physician Burnout Video Training
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Some of the causes of physician burnout are hidden deeply in our subconscious -- beneath the surface of what would appear to be normal behaviors -- in a series of true blind spots in our awareness.

Blind Spot
= something you can't see that you can't see -- something  you don't know you don't know

The Conditioning of our Medical Education is one of these blind spots. Until you learn to recognize this brainwashing, it will drive your behavior and cause physician burnout in powerful ways. Let me show you your doctor conditioning.

Physician Burnout – 3 Signs and 3 Simple Prevention Steps

With all the passionate headlines and blog posts written on the health care reform debate/Obamacare, and advances in digital medicine – it is easy to overlook the fact that most healthcare is actually delivered person to person, knee to knee, from doctor to patient behind a closed exam room door.

Physician Burnout – Abraham Maslow would say it’s a Calling

Burnout Symptoms in Physicians are Different in Men and Women

Over the last twenty years multiple studies have shown and average of 1 in 3 physicians suffer burnout symptoms on any given office day. This prevalence of burnout symptoms has been a constant of modern healthcare delivery regardless of specialty and in numerous countries around the world.

Physician Burnout is CRAZY sometimes

Here’s a common definition of crazy behavior:

Crazy is …

Doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting a different result.

Physician Burnout – Gender Differences in Burnout Symptoms.

Numerous studies have shown that an average of 1 in 3 practicing physicians are suffering from symptomatic physician burnout on any given office day … worldwide, regardless of specialty.

The three classic signs and symptoms of physician burnout are measured by a standardized evaluation; the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). They are:

1) Emotional Exhaustion

The doctor is tapped out after the office day, hospital rounds or being on call and is unable to recover with time off. Over time their energy level begins to follow a downward spiral.

2) “Depersonalization”

This shows up as cynicism or a negative, callous, excessively detached response to their job duties. Often burned out doctors will begin to blame and complain about their patients and their problems.

3) “Reduced Accomplishment”

Here physician burnout has the doctor start to question whether they are offering quality care and whether what they do really matters at all.

As more female doctors move into the workforce, researchers are beginning to notice differences in the way physician burnout presents in men and women.

If you think for a moment about the three scales of the MBI, you will probably be able to imagine the differences. Here is what groundbreaking physician burnout research published in 2011 is showing.