IMPORTANCE: Burnout is prevalent in physicians and can have a negative influence on performance, career continuation and patient care. Existing evidence does not allow clear recommendations for the management of burnout in physicians. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to reduce burnout in physicians. We also examined whether different types of interventions (physician-directed or organization-directed interventions), physician characteristics (length of experience) and healthcare setting characteristics (primary or secondary care) were associated with improved effects. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cinahl, and Central, were searched from inception to May 2016. The reference lists of eligible studies and other relevant systematic reviews were hand-searched. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized controlled trials and controlled before-after studies of interventions targeting burnout in physicians. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed the risk of bias. The main meta-analysis was followed by a number of pre-specified subgroup and sensitivity analyses. All analyses were performed using random-effects models and heterogeneity was quantified using I 2. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES: The core outcome was burnout scores focused on emotional exhaustion, reported as standardized mean differences and their 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Twenty independent comparisons from 19 studies were included in the metaanalysis (n=1,550 physicians). Interventions were associated with small significant reductions in burnout (SMD=-0.29, 95% CI=-0.42 to-0.16; equal to a drop of 3-points on the emotional exhaustion domain of the Maslach Burnout Inventory above change in the controls). Subgroup analyses suggested significantly improved effects for organization-5 directed interventions (SMD=-0.45, 95% CI=-0.62 to-0.28) compared to physician-directed interventions (SMD=-0.18, 95% CI=-0.32 to-0.03). Interventions delivered in experienced physicians and in primary care were associated with higher effects compared to interventions delivered in inexperienced physicians and in secondary care, but these differences were not significant. The results were not influenced by the risk of bias ratings. CONCLUSION: Evidence from this meta-analysis suggests that current intervention programs for burnout in physicians are associated with small benefits which may be boosted by adoption of organization-directed approaches. This finding provides support for the view that burnout is a problem of the whole healthcare organization, rather than individuals.

IMPORTANCE Physician burnout has taken the form of an epidemic that may affect core domains of health care delivery, including patient safety, quality of care, and patient satisfaction. However, this evidence has not been systematically quantified.OBJECTIVE To examine whether physician burnout is associated with an increased risk of patient safety incidents, suboptimal care outcomes due to low professionalism, and lower patient satisfaction.DATA SOURCES MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, and CINAHL databases were searched until October 22, 2017, using combinations of the key terms physicians, burnout, and patient care. Detailed standardized searches with no language restriction were undertaken. The reference lists of eligible studies and other relevant systematic reviews were hand-searched.STUDY SELECTION Quantitative observational studies.DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Two independent reviewers were involved. The main meta-analysis was followed by subgroup and sensitivity analyses. All analyses were performed using random-effects models. Formal tests for heterogeneity (I 2 ) and publication bias were performed. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe core outcomes were the quantitative associations between burnout and patient safety, professionalism, and patient satisfaction reported as odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% CIs. RESULTSOf the 5234 records identified, 47 studies on 42 473 physicians (25 059 [59.0%] men; median age, 38 years [range, 27-53 years]) were included in the meta-analysis. Physician burnout was associated with an increased risk of patient safety incidents (OR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.59-2.40), poorer quality of care due to low professionalism (OR, 2.31; 95% CI, 1.87-2.85), and reduced patient satisfaction (OR, 2.28; 95% CI, 1.42-3.68). The heterogeneity was high and the study quality was low to moderate. The links between burnout and low professionalism were larger in residents and early-career (Յ5 years post residency) physicians compared with middle-and late-career physicians (Cohen Q = 7.27; P = .003). The reporting method of patient safety incidents and professionalism (physician-reported vs system-recorded) significantly influenced the main results (Cohen Q = 8.14; P = .007). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThis meta-analysis provides evidence that physician burnout may jeopardize patient care; reversal of this risk has to be viewed as a fundamental health care policy goal across the globe. Health care organizations are encouraged to invest in efforts to improve physician wellness, particularly for early-career physicians. The methods of recording patient care quality and safety outcomes require improvements to concisely capture the outcome of burnout on the performance of health care organizations.

Self-treatment is strongly embedded within the culture of both physicians and medical students as an accepted way to enhance/buffer work performance. The authors believe that these complex self-directed care behaviours could be regarded as an occupational hazard for the medical profession.

Burnout is an occupational phenomenon and we need to look beyond the individual to find effective solutions, argue A Montgomery and colleagues

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