Burnout and Wellness: The Anesthesiologist’s Perspective

Abstract

Burnout syndrome results from unmanaged chronic workplace stress. It is characterized by emotional exhaustion, lack of a sense of personal accomplishment, and depersonalization. Burnout is associated with the development of poor work-related outcomes, mental health disorders, substance abuse, and cardiovascular disease. Burnout in physicians and other health care providers can negatively affect patient care. The prevalence of burnout in anesthesiology is among the highest of all medical specialties, with rates approaching 40%. Unique risk factors for the development of burnout in anesthesiologists may include environmental social isolation, long work hours, lack of control over one’s career, and the presence of certain personality traits that select for a career in anesthesia. System-based interventions targeting workplace contributions to burnout and individual resilience and mindfulness training can be helpful in reducing burnout symptoms. Future research efforts examining both the health care environmental structure and the specific burnout risk factors for anesthesiologists will help produce targeted treatment strategies for members of the anesthesiology community.

The Intraoperative Adherence to Multimodal Analgesia of Anesthesiologists: A Retrospective Study

“…Furthermore, several studies revealed the burnout of anesthesiologists worldwide [29,30]. Our study observed that surgery needing complicated preparation and maintenance such as lung resection and knee arthroplasty would inhibit more analgesic mode.…”

Busyness, mental engagement, and stress: Relationships to neurocognitive aging and behavior

“…The stress hormone cortisol has also been shown to impair memory retrieval of well-learned memories in humans ( Wolf et al, 2004 ). And, literature on burnout finds that uncontrollable stress and feeling over-worked can disrupt not only cognitive performance but also interpersonal interactions and wellbeing ( Arnsten and Shanafelt, 2021 ; Romito et al, 2021 ).…”

Physician Burnout: The Role of Lifestyle Medicine

“…This is especially true of medical students and residents and other individuals in training or early in their medical careers who have been shown to experience very high levels of burnout. Other frontline physicians such as primary care physicians, emergency room physicians, and as Romito et al 6 point out in their article, anesthesiologists have also been shown to have high levels of burnout.…”