Doctors experiencing burnout are twice as likely to be have patient safety incidents

Doctors who experience burnout are twice as likely to be involved in patient safety incidents and show low professionalism, according to new analysis from the BMJ.

Researchers from the UK and Greece selected and analysed the results of 170 observational studies on the subject involving 239,246 physicians to examine the association of burnout with the career engagement of physicians and the quality of patient care globally.

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They found that doctors experiencing burnout were also four times more likely to be dissatisfied with their job and over twice as likely to receive low satisfaction ratings from patients.

Research shows that a third of trainee doctors in the UK report that they experience burnout to a high or very high degree. It is defined as emotional exhaustion, cynicism and detachment from the job, and a feeling of reduced personal accomplishment.

Burnout lowest in GPs

The analysis found that poorer job satisfaction was greatest in hospital settings, physicians aged 31-50 years, and those working in emergency medicine and intensive care, while burnout was lowest in general practitioners.

The association between burnout and patient safety incidents was greatest in physicians aged 20-30 years, and people working in emergency medicine.

The study authors acknowledge some limitations in their research including the fact that precise definitions of terms, such as patient safety, professionalism, and job satisfaction, varied between the studies analysed so may have led to some overestimation of their association with burnout.

Also, the tools or questionnaires used to assess outcomes varied considerably between the 170 studies, and the design of the original studies imposed limits on their ability to establish causal links between physician burnout and patient care or career engagement.

The authors concluded: “Burnout is a strong predictor for career disengagement in physicians as well as for patient care. Moving forward, investment strategies to monitor and improve physician burnout are needed as a means of retaining the healthcare workforce and improving the quality of patient care.

“Healthcare organisations should invest more time and effort in implementing evidence-based strategies to mitigate physician burnout across specialties, and particularly in emergency medicine and for physicians in training or residency.”