Physician burnout and shortages

From what I’ve been reading lately, it appears that doctors are increasingly suffering from burnout. In the opinion of Dr. Eric Reinhart, a physician at Northwestern University, burnout is caused in large part by “…our dwindling faith in the systems for which we work.” Definitions of burnout have included emotional exhaustion in response to intensive work, becoming emotionally drained, detachment from and negative feelings toward people they are trying to help, and a sense of helplessness and loss of purpose.

Nearly two-thirds of physicians report that they are experiencing burnout, and are “…finding it difficult to quash the suspicion that our institutions, and much of our work inside them, primarily serve a moneymaking machine.” Examples include hospitals putting profits over people, the use of billing codes that dictate nearly every aspect of medical practice, and the profit motives of insurance and pharmaceutical companies that become intractable barriers to improving patients’ lives. A study of 10,000 family physicians showed that key contributors to burnout also include the need to spend time at home working on electronic health records as well as a lack of a fully staffed support team. 

Now we have a chronic physician shortage. One in five doctors plans to stop practicing in the coming years. In 2021, about 117,000 physicians left the work force, while fewer than 40,000 joined it. According  to projections published by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States will face a physician shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036.  

The United States is the only large high-income nation that doesn’t provide universal health care to its citizens. Instead, it maintains a lucrative system of for-profit medicine. Dr. Reinhart supports universal health care. So does The American College of Physicians, which says, in its position paper, that “…the United States needs a healthcare system that provides care for everyone, either through a universal health insurance system, such as the UK NHS, or through a pluralistic system that involves the government and private organizations.” So let’s do it!

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