Concerns About Healthcare Worker Burnout Are at a Fever Pitch—So How Are YOU Doing?

For all the discussion and outreach efforts (including in JUCM and JUCM News) to warn healthcare facilities that burnout is a serious threat to providers and, consequently, patients, the problem has become so widespread that U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA writes that it has become a “crisis that is now affecting not only healthcare workers, but the communities they serve.” His department’s report, Addressing Health Worker Burnout—The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Thriving Health Workforce lays a good bit of the blame on the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with growing staff shortages across multiple settings—with the worst gaps between demand and supply likely to occur in primary care and in rural communities. It also reiterates the consequences of burnout in healthcare providers: emotional exhaustion, sleep disruptions/insomnia, anxiety, depression, and more. As noted, JUCM has offered helpful content on this and related subjects for years. Healthy tips for preventing or dealing with burnout in urgent care can be gleaned from The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Making Burnout Worse for Physicians Already in Crisis and Provider Burnout Is Real; Show Compassion for Yourself.