Dr. John Becher, DO '70, has co-authored a new paper dealing with physician burnout. The paper focuses on various areas including depression and suicide among doctors.
One of the basic tenets of osteopathic medicine is to consider the patient as a whole, comprising mind, body and spirit. A new paper published in and authored by several leaders in the field of osteopathic medicine鈥攊ncluding John Becher, DO 鈥�70, chair, emergency medicine鈥攕ay that perspective should also be applied to physician wellness.
鈥淲e want students and young physicians to look in the mirror and see themselves as they see their patients,鈥� said Dr. Becher, who is a former president of the (AOA).
As physicians face increasing pressures such as education debt, increased patient and administrative workloads, more and more complex medical knowledge, and patient self-diagnoses鈥攁long with many of the other stressors faced outside of their job鈥攖he rates of physician burnout, depression and suicide ideation have increased. In fact, roughly 400 physicians commit suicide each year.
鈥淚n doing research for this paper, it was particularly shocking to me to see the degree of burnout that occurs among students before they even have the experience of seeing patients,鈥� said Dr. Becher, adding that within his particular specialty of emergency medicine, rates of physician burnout were highest. 鈥淚t鈥檚 physically and emotionally stressful,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚t can impact your personal life, your hobbies and the time you spend with your family.鈥�
The authors of the paper suggest that key stakeholders鈥攊ncluding medical schools, training programs, employers, families, and society at large鈥攑lay a role in facilitating physician wellness by considering all of those factors in a holistic fashion, the same way osteopathic medicine physicians are trained to understand their patients.
Dr. Becher says that he and fellow authors found that the physicians who were least likely to experience burnout generally had more well-rounded lives. 鈥淭hey had other factors to essentially take their mind off of medicine,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he more you don鈥檛 do outside of medicine, the worse it can be.鈥�
The authors propose the AOA use the information presented in the paper to develop programs that address the issue of depression and burnout among physicians.
鈥淭his is a public health problem, in that it affects the ability of doctors to provide
the best care to their patients,鈥� said Dr. Becher.
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