Active Participation in Health Care Governance Said to Combat Physician Burnout

The loss of autonomy for physicians —as many have begun working in large health systems rather than as solo or small group practitioners—has been a key driver of physician burnout, according to the authors of aViewpoint article in the July issue of JAMA Psychiatry.While efforts to improve self-care have been moderately effective in addressing burnout, they fail to address its underlying cause —namely, the lack of physician autonomy in today’s large health care systems, write Frederick S. Southwick, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine, and Steven M. Southwick, M.D., the Glenn H. Greenberg Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of M edicine. In small group and solo practices, physicians were largely free to dictate how they practiced medicine, but large health care systems, by contrast, tend to be impersonal and controlling, leaving little room for physicians to decide what tests to perform, what treatments to administer, and h ow much time to spend with patients. Physicians often feel frustrated by today ’s broad array of mandated regulations, required use of electronic health records, and performance expectations imposed by insurance companies, government agencies, and hospital administrators. These conditions leave many physicians feeling overwhelmed and relatively powerless. In animal and human studies, chronic stress that is experienced as uncontrollable can have highly toxic effects, the authors wri...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: burnout control Frederick S. Southwick health care systems JAMA Psychiatry regulations Steven M. Southwick stress Well-Being Source Type: research