BackgroundInterest in the well-being of physicians has increased because of their contributions to the healthcare system quality. There is growing recognition that physicians are exposed to workplace factors that increase the risk of work stress. Long-term exposure to high work stress can result in burnout. Reports from around the world suggest that about one-third to one-half of physicians experience burnout. Understanding the outcomes associated with burnout is critical to understanding its affects on the healthcare system. Productivity outcomes are among those that could have the most immediate effects on the healthcare system. This systematic literature review is one of the first to explore the evidence for the types of physician productivity outcomes associated with physician burnout. It answers the question, “How does burnout affect physician productivity?”MethodsA systematic search was performed of: Medline Current, Medline in process, PsycInfo, Embase and Web of Science. The search period covered 2002 to 2012. The searches identified articles about practicing physicians working in civilian settings. Articles that primarily looked only at residents or medical students were excluded. Productivity was captured by hours worked, patients seen, sick leave, leaving the profession, retirement, workload and presenteeism. Studies also were excluded if: (1) the study sample was not comprised of at least 50% physicians, (2) the study did not examine the relationship between burnout and productivity or (3) a validated measure of burnout was not used.ResultsThe search identified 870 unique citations; 5 met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. This review indicates that globally there is recognition of the potential impact of physician burnout on productivity. Productivity was examined using: number of sick leave days, work ability, intent to either continue practicing or change jobs. The majority of the studies indicate there is a negative relationship between burnout and productivity. However, there is variation depending on the type of productivity outcome examined.ConclusionsThere is evidence that burnout is associated with decreased productivity. However, this line of inquiry is still developing. A number of gaps are yet to be filled including understanding how to quantify the changes in productivity related to burnout.

ObjectivesThis study reviews the current state of the published peer-reviewed literature related to physician burnout and two quality of care dimensions. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to address the question, ‘How does physician burnout affect the quality of healthcare related to the dimensions of acceptability and safety?’DesignUsing a multiphase screening process, this systematic literature review is based on publically available peer-reviewed studies published between 2002 and 2017. Six electronic databases were searched: (1) MEDLINE Current, (2) MEDLINE In-process, (3) MEDLINE Epub Ahead of Print, (4) PsycINFO, (5) Embase and (6) Web of Science.SettingPhysicians practicing in civilian settings.ParticipantsPracticing physicians who have completed training.Primary and secondary outcome measuresQuality of healthcare related to acceptability (ie, patient satisfaction, physician communication and physician attitudes) and safety (ie, minimising risks or harm to patients).Results4114 unique citations were identified. Of these, 12 articles were included in the review. Two studies were rated as having high risk of bias and 10 as having moderate risk. Four studies were conducted in North America, four in Europe, one in the Middle East and three in East Asia. Results of this systematic literature review suggest there is moderate evidence that burnout is associated with safety-related quality of care. Because of the variability in the way patient acceptability-related quality of care was measured and the inconsistency in study findings, the evidence supporting the relationship between burnout and patient acceptability-related quality of care is less strong.ConclusionsThe focus on direct care-related quality highlights additional ways that physician burnout affects the healthcare system. These studies can help to inform decisions about how to improve patient care by addressing physician burnout. Continued work looking at the relationship between dimensions of acceptability-related quality of care measures and burnout is needed to advance the field.

BackgroundInterest in the impact of burnout on physicians has been growing because of the possible burden this may have on health care systems. The objective of this study is to estimate the cost of burnout on early retirement and reduction in clinical hours of practicing physicians in Canada.MethodsUsing an economic model, the costs related to early retirement and reduction in clinical hours of physicians were compared for those who were experiencing burnout against a scenario in which they did not experience burnout. The January 2012 Canadian Medical Association Masterfile was used to determine the number of practicing physicians. Transition probabilities were estimated using 2007–2008 Canadian Physician Health Survey and 2007 National Physician Survey data. Adjustments were also applied to outcome estimates based on ratio of actual to planned retirement and reduction in clinical hours.ResultsThe total cost of burnout for all physicians practicing in Canada is estimated to be $213.1 million ($185.2 million due to early retirement and $27.9 million due to reduced clinical hours). Family physicians accounted for 58.8% of the burnout costs, followed by surgeons for 24.6% and other specialists for 16.6%.ConclusionThe cost of burnout associated with early retirement and reduction in clinical hours is substantial and a significant proportion of practicing physicians experience symptoms of burnout. As health systems struggle with human resource shortages and expanding waiting times, this estimate sheds light on the extent to which the burden could be potentially decreased through prevention and promotion activities to address burnout among physicians.

BackgroundThere has been increasing interest in examining the relationship between physician wellbeing and quality of patient care. However, few reviews have specifically focused on resident burnout and quality of patient care. The purpose of this systematic literature review of the current scientific literature is to address the question, “How does resident burnout affect the quality of healthcare related to the dimensions of acceptability and safety?”MethodsThis systematic literature review uses a multi-step screening process of publicly available peer-reviewed studies from five electronic databases: (1) Medline Current, (2) Medline In-process, (3) PsycINFO, (4) Embase, and (5) Web of Science.ResultsThe electronic literature search resulted in the identification of 4638 unique citations. Of these, 10 articles were included in the review. Studies were assessed for risk of bias. Of the 10 studies that met the inclusion criteria, eight were conducted in the US, one in The Netherlands, and one in Mexico. Eight of the 10 studies focused on patient safety. The results of these included studies suggest there is moderate evidence that burnout is associated with patient safety (i.e., resident self-perceived medical errors and sub-optimal care). There is less evidence that specific dimensions of burnout are related to acceptability (i.e., quality of care, communication with patients).ConclusionsThe results of this systematic literature review suggest a relationship between patient safety and burnout. These results potentially have important implications for the medical training milieu because residents are still in training and at the same time are asked to teach students. The results also indicate a need for more evidence-based interventions that support continued research examining quality of care measures, especially as they relate to acceptability.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-017-1040-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Over the past decade, growing attention has been given to the mental health of workers. One way to examine the mental health of workers is to look at the incidence rates of mental illness-related sickness absence. There is a scarcity of literature in which the incidence rates of mental illness-related sickness absence among different countries have been considered together. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to address the question: Are there similarities and differences in the incidence rates of mental disorder-related sickness absence among and within OECD identified Social Democratic, Liberal and Latin American country categories? In this paper, we seek to identify differences and similarities in the literature rather than to explain them. With this review, we lay the groundwork for and point to areas for future research as well as to raise questions regarding reasons for the differences and similarities. Methods: A systematic literature search of the following databases were performed: Medline Current, Medline In-process, PsycINFO, Econlit and Web of Science. The search period covered 2002-2013. The systematic literature search focused on working adults between 18-65 years old who had not retired and who had mental and/or substance abuse disorders. Intervention studies were excluded. The search focused on medically certified sickness absences. Results: A total of 3,818 unique citations were identified. Of these, 10 studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria; six were from Social Democratic countries. Their quality ranged from good to excellent. There was variation in the incidence rates reported by the studies from the Social Democratic, Liberal and Latin American countries in this review. Conclusions:The results of this systematic review suggest that this is an emerging area of inquiry that needs to continue to grow. Priority areas to support growth include cross jurisdictional collaboration and development of a typology characterizing the benefit generosity and work integration policies of sickness absence schemes. Finally, the literature should be updated to reflect changes in sickness absence benefit schemes over time.