The healthcare industry is facing its own internal pandemic daily, with no sign of a cure in sight. Everyday healthcare providers loose highly skilled professionals to fatigue and burnout. Studies done on physicians speculate that well over half of all practicing physicians experience at least one symptom of burnout, a startling revelation that many experts did not see coming.
The Many Faces of Fatigue
Fatigue manifests in many ways, in almost every facet of the healthcare profession. From surgeons to CNAs, large percentages of these groups report fatigue in more ways than one. Physical fatigue plagues tens of thousands in the healthcare world, with many people having to work 80 hours a week. This fatigue has been shown to impact decision making, performance in stressful situations, and the social lives of those that experience it. Physical fatigue is not alone however, emotional fatigue also finds it way easily into the bodies and minds of healthcare professionals every single day. Not only does emotional fatigue lead to various forms of depression, it can also lead to the loss of personal relationships and upset work-home balances that play a key role in mental fortitude.
The Truth Behind Burnout
Burnout can manifest in almost any profession, hobby, sport, or activity. When something is done too much for too long, burnout will creep in. In the healthcare world this is all too prevalent, with all spectrums of the healthcare workforce reporting burnout on levels never seen before. But what exactly does burnout look like? Burnout can manifest in various ways, from physical symptoms such as headaches and stomach-aches to emotional symptoms such as sporadic crying and depression.4 All these factors can easily be found in any busy hospital or practice around the United States. As healthcare providers rush to save other’s lives and find cures for new diseases, they are also fighting a war from within.
What’s Causing This?
The dramatic increase in fatigue and burnout can be contributed to many factors. Of these, increased demand on healthcare providers to provide top tier care might be one of the leading causes. With a shortage of MDs, RNs, and PAs already hurting the healthcare industry in America, the call for higher quality care only puts more weight on the shoulders of already stressed professionals. This compounding stress is also not aided by the fact that more patients walk into clinic doors every day. With issues like heart disease, obesity, and high blood pressure being some of the leading causes of death in the United States, professionals begin to feel the overbearing pressure of treating these diseases every day all day.
What’s Being Done?
Numerous providers are implementing systems to help combat the rise of fatigue and burnout. However, with the rise of COVID-19, healthcare workers are more stressed than they have ever been, with programs to help stress seemingly put on the back burner until the swell of cases dies down to a manageable number. No doubt fatigue and burnout will be the talk of the industry in the coming years.
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