Erschienen in:
16.04.2018 | Editorial
Empathy and Burnout in Medicine—Acknowledging Risks and Opportunities
Erschienen in:
Journal of General Internal Medicine
|
Ausgabe 7/2018
Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhalten
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 hopelessness
2 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. …