The pandemic has driven burnout among health care workers to crisis levels, driving many stakeholders to call for systemic solutions to retain critical personnel while preparing a new generation to take the field.
In a recent webinar hosted by U.S. News & World Report, top health care leaders detailed the serious threat that burnout presents to the resiliency of hospitals and health systems. Across the nation, front-line workers have been challenged by ever higher levels of stress caused by systemic changes to care delivery and exacerbated by COVID-19.
Before the pandemic, physicians were at twice the risk for burnout compared to the general population, and about 40% of those surveyed reported depression and suicidal ideation, said Dr. Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine, during the webinar. Increases in patient volume, the demands of making health care more businesslike, the pressure of meeting more regulations and requirements and other factors have left providers feeling overwhelmed and with less time to spend one-on-one with patients, panelists noted.
The situation has deteriorated further since the start of the pandemic with some 60% to 75% of clinicians reporting symptoms of exhaustion, depression, sleep disorders and PTSD, Dzau said, while nurses are equally if not more stressed. About 20% of health care workers have quit during this period, he said, and 4 out of 5 of those who remain say that staff shortages have affected their ability to work safely and to satisfy patient needs. Research estimates that burnout cost the health care system about $4.6 billion a year before the spread of COVID-19, Dzau said, and that number has surely risen since then.
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