How much is that burnout in the window?

Burnout rates among Canadian physicians have been well-established for many years and appear to be in the range of 40-45%.

This raises a number of important questions, such as:

• how can burnout be prevented? 
• what methods of intervention work best? 
• what can the individual physician do to minimize or recover from burnout?  
• what is the role of the practice environment?  
• and how does this affect patient care in a socialized health care system?

A new study has just released the annual economic cost of physician burnout in Canada.  The total cost was $213.1 million, with $185.2 million due to early retirement and $27.9 million due to reduced clinical hours.  In terms of specialty of impact, family physicians accounted for 58.8% of the costs, with surgeons (24.6%) and other specialists (16.6%) following suit.

This is important data in our socialized health care system.  

Medical associations in Canada have already made investments in their  Physician Health Programs but such investments are targeted, rightfully, at services for ill or impaired physicians.  Funding for prevention and promotion programs has been hard to come by.

As physician health services continue to grow and evolve, targeted funding for promotion/prevention services seems appropriate.  This needs to involve a number of stakeholders in the system - Medical Schools, Residency Training Programs, Health Authorities, Provincial/Territorial Governments, and the nation's Medical Associations.

After all, wouldn't a few hundred million more dollars for patient care be worth such investment?