Burnout, Cognitive Overload, and Metacognition in Medicine

Metacognition and Ruminative Thinking as Predictors of Burnout: A Structural Equation Modelling

“…Burnout causes a reduction in persons' ability to fulfil normal functions neuropsychologically and weakens their capability to cope with stressors. The metacognitive functions that are used as a continuous re-assessment method provide coordination and bridge between different areas of memory functions and they are also influential on focusing and directing attention (Iskander, 2019). Dysfunctional metacognitions and ineffective coping significantly affect individuals' working ability and capacity and hence lead to gathering of stressors (Lenzo et al, 2016).…”

How do attending physicians describe cognitive overload among their workplace learners?

“…1 If teachers were able to identify overloaded learners in real time, they could intervene to mitigate sources of cognitive overload and promote learning. 16 Although cognitive overload has been mentioned in classroom- [20][21][22][23] and workplace-based 1 studies, and has been the subject of commentary, 5,14 techniques to identify overloaded learners have been limited to physiologic measures and secondary task responses. 1 These are infeasible for everyday use in authentic HPE workplace environments.…”

“…The review noted that knowledge gaps remain and that strategies for teachers and learners to identify, articulate and act upon learner cognitive overload in real time during the course of actual workplace teaching are lacking 1 . Other considerations of this topic include a commentary 14 . As workplace learners are exposed to high levels of cognitive load, and because cognitive overload interferes with learning, identifying overloaded workplace learners in real time is crucial.…”

How did we get here? Thoughts on health care system drivers of pediatric radiology burnout

“…Cognitive load is the amount of working memory required to complete a given task. When cognitive load exceeds the amount of working memory available, it can lead to rising levels of burnout and error [ 22 ]. At baseline, radiology has the highest mental demand component of physician task load among 24 specialties studied, and it ranked fourth in overall task load required to perform the work [ 23 ].…”