Empathy and Burnout in Medicine—Acknowledging Risks and Opportunities

Excerpt

Patient-centeredness has been identified by the Institute of Medicine as one of the six main aims for a twenty-first century health system and encompasses qualities of compassion and empathy, as well as being responsive to the patients’ values, needs and preferences.1 These tenets of modern medical professionalism require greater expectations over physicians’ emotional availability than in the past, but this trend is risky in a context in which physicians show increasing rates of emotional vulnerability.2^,3 A systematic review of 54 studies found between 20.9 to 43.2% of resident physicians report depression or depressive symptoms.3 Longitudinal studies indicate that the prevalence of depressive symptoms increases with increasing years in training,3 rather than diminishing with greater expertise and experience. A national survey found that 46% of practicing physicians show some signs of burnout,4 a phenomenon involving difficulties in dealing with stressful work and demands. Burnout can lead to feelings of depersonalisation and hopelessness2 and is associated with increased physician errors and reduced empathy for patients.4 It is therefore a concern that the demands and expectations on physicians’ emotional resources are carefully balanced with the psychological costs and risks to their mental wellbeing in the provision of patient-centred empathic care. …