Burned out on discussing burnout?

I get a little hesitant to jump on a current hot topic (probably channeling my inner skeptic/curmudgeon) but it’s hard to argue that burnout isn’t real—and really important. A full 2/3 of medical specialists indicated a neutral or unfavorable response to questions regarding burnout on the experience survey—slightly worse than all physicians at Intermountain, and quite a bit worse than national peers.

Overworked or under-purposed?

Before starting my new job in the MSCP, I was experiencing some burnout. Strangely, this actually went away when I took the new role. I say strangely because my work hours are now quite a bit higher as I’ve struggled to learn the new job and rise to its challenges.

So, what’s making the difference? I think that it is a new sense of purpose. I’ve always found joy and meaning in caring for my own patients, and helping to improve medical care through research—and those parts of my job haven’t changed. I left my role as a residency director to take the new job. Helping ensure the future of the profession by educating residents is an extremely high purpose—but after 16 years, I’d run out of new ideas. Nearly all the tasks had taken on a predictable annual routine; I had stopped contributing anything new.

John Christensen and Sarah Beesley have already proven that there were many new things that could be achieved for the residents—but it took new leaders and fresh perspective to make things better; I wasn’t innovating anymore.

This has made me reflect. Does burnout come only from the long hours, and the feeling that the mountain of work can never be summitted? Probably to some degree—but I think much more important is this: It is demoralizing to do a task, especially repeatedly, when you know it’s not going to help a patient.

There are too many such tasks.

Now that we have a full clinical program team and are close to having a full complement of specialty directors (the most passionate and skilled set of people I have ever worked with) I’m beginning to think about how we can transform our system to start to eliminate those tasks.

I know we can’t fully get rid of everything that’s menial and mundane; after all, we are a profession beholden to many rule makers—government agencies,accreditation bodies, etc., etc. Even so, I think we can find ways to lighten the burden. Every mundane item that can be automated, batched, streamlined or pre-checked is one brick off the load we carry. Once enough bricks are laid aside, the load lightens, and the burnout lifts.

I’m a big believer in working smarter instead of harder. But I also don’t mind working hard—I just want to dedicate the effort to the things that matter--helping patients. And in my new job, helping each of you find more joy and satisfaction in what you do.

Over 300 fellowship-trained medical specialists is a colossal amount of brainpower. Please devote a few of those synapses to help us find the spots where busywork can be averted—and let’s see what we can transform together.

Scott M. Stevens, MD, FACP, FCCP

Senior Medical Director, Medical Specialties Clinical Program