Monday, October 20, 2014
Primary Care Doctors on the Front Lines of Medicine Are Burning Out
It’s no secret that med students, with their demanding workload and punishing schedule, have it rough. A study from the Annals of Internal medicine — entitled “Burnout and Suicidal Ideation among U.S. Medical Students” — found that 50 percent of medical students report burnout and 11 percent experience suicidal thoughts.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much better once these students become full-fledged docs. Almost half of all physicians (46 percent) report burnout. Burnout happens across the board, the report found, but is highest among doctors who are on the front lines of medicine — namely, primary care physicians and emergency room doctors....