Healthcare settings nationwide are still struggling to reduce physician stress and burnout in the workplace. According to a Dec. 6 report from the American Medical Association, there are four things that might help reduce physician stress.
The recommendations come from a study in JAMA Health Forum that surveyed more than 20,000 clinicians between February 2019 and December 2021.
First, make sure physicians feel valued. Among physicians that felt valued in 2021, only 37 percent felt burnt out, compared to 69 percent of physicians who did not feel valued.
Second, give physicians control over their own workloads. Burnout occurs at lower levels among physicians who feel as though they can set their own schedules.
Third, get rid of chaos in the workplace. Chaos is associated with higher levels of burnout. Burnout is 30 percent higher in unfavorable environments.
Fourth, prioritize teamwork. Eighty-eight percent of physicians who reported working in an environment with bad teamwork reported feeling burnt out.