Burnout in Radiologists: Perspective published in Journal of Academic Radiology

The professional responsibility of doctors "to be at their best" sometimes takes a toll on their psychological well being. Addressing the growing incidence of burnout among healthcare professionals especially radiologists, an association of radiologists form Penn State Health, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center presented their perspective on the stated issue. The perspective was published in the Journal of Academic Radiology.

Burnout is a work-related syndrome which refers to a plethora of symptoms including loss of enthusiasm for work, a high degree of emotional exhaustion, a high degree of depersonalization, and a low sense of personal accomplishment. High level of burnout can be detrimental to the quality and safety of health care.

Following are the risk factors that the authors have pointed out which may contribute to burnout among physicians.

• Increasing workload- Factors that contribute to a sense of the increased workload include increased utilization of advanced cross-sectional imaging with much larger sets of data to analyze, voice recognition software and self-editing, and an overall increase in the number of imaging studies read, increased after-hours responsibilities, greater expectations for report turnaround times, conflicting demands on time (clinical, academic, administrative), and inadequate staffing.


• Practice Environment- The higher prevalence of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment in private practice radiologists compared to those in academic practice was found to be contributing to stress burnouts.


• Communication and Autonomy: Perceived lack of appreciation and recognition for one's work, lack of input and involvement in the decision-making process, lack of support, and lack of transparency are important factors that may lead to discontent and potentially increase burnout symptoms.
  
  
  
  • Lack of control over daily clinical schedule, on-call responsibilities, work pattern and vacation schedule may lead to decreased satisfaction with work-life balance, and thereby
    contribute to work-related stress
  
  
  
  


• Work Environment: PACS and Electronic Medical Record and Isolation- The advent of PACS and the electronic medical record (EMR) has improved the delivery of medical care in many ways, but has also contributed to the increasing isolation of the radiologist


• Trainee Burnout: High burnout rates have also been reported among radiology trainees. Increased residency year may be linked with high emotional exhaustion as well as depersonalization.

The authors also discussed the interventions that may reduce burnout in radiologists and also aid improvement in health and wellness. According to the authors, the following steps could be taken to check the issue.

Physician-Directed Interventions: Restoring physical balance, emotional/spiritual balance, relationship balance, work-time off balance, Mindfulness, cognitive behavioural therapies, Provide and encourage seeking professional help from mental health services, Educational strategies for improving physicians’ self-confidence and communication skills, facilitated and non-facilitated small group sessions.

Organization-Directed Interventions: Open communication and transparency from leadership, Measure and address wellness routinely as an organization, Provide workflow autonomy, Encourage and maintain strong leadership style and mentorship opportunities, EMR and PACS support, Create a healthy and collegial work environment (team huddles), Isolation of radiologists from other health care professionals Organizational wellness committee, Wellness and burnout resources provided by organization.