Addressing and reducing physician burnout "must be an urgent national priority," Jack Resneck, MD, president of the American Medical Association, wrote in a Dec. 15 post on the organization's website.
In the post, Dr. Resneck outlined factors contributing to physician burnout, including the spread of medical disinformation online, looming Medicare payment cuts, supply chain interruptions and hostility toward healthcare providers.
These are just some of the factors that can lead to a toxic work environment, preventing physicians from doing what "drew [them] to medicine in the first place: deliver[ing] high-quality, compassionate care to our patients," Dr. Resneck argued.
He also cited a survey from the AMA, Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and Stanford (Calif.) Medicine showing a 38.2 percent increase in physicians reporting burnout from 2020 to 2021. This increase needs to be addressed so physicians do not leave the practice, leaving patients unable to find both primary care physicians and specialists, Dr. Resneck stated.
The best way to do this is "by attacking its root causes at the system level" as opposed to focusing on physician resilience, Dr. Resneck explained. Instead of simply telling physicians to make time for self care, organized medicine on the state and national levels is the best route, according to the post.