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Abstract
Burnout is a triad of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Stress and burnout are common among health care professionals. The majority of medical students and residents suffer burnout at some stage of their training and one or more signs of burnout are observed in almost half of practicing physicians. Personal and work related factors contribute to burnout. Burnout has a substantial negative impact on both the health care provider and the quality of care. There are numerous personal and organizational approaches to the prevention and treatment of burnout. Alternative and complementary medicine techniques are among the most helpful.
Much has been written about burnout among health professionals in the past year or two. During the last 4 months of 2012 alone, more than 50 articles appeared in the medical literature on this subject. What does the term burnout mean? What factors contribute to it? What are its effects and what approaches are available to prevent or reduce it? The purpose of this paper is to address these questions. In doing so, we will see that many of the tools and techniques of alternative and complementary medicine can be helpful in preventing or reducing burnout.
Burnout
Burnout is commonly described as a triad of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization (cynicism, irritability, decreased ability to concentrate), and reduced personal accomplishment.1 In health professionals, burnout is most often measured by a questionnaire designed specifically for health care providers by Christina Maslach, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley1 This questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, is a self- administered 22-item questionnaire considered the gold standard in the assessment of burnout in health professionals.2 The questions reflect the multidimensional nature of burnout- indicators of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficiency.
In a recent study of burnout and satisfaction with work-life balance among US physicians relative to the general population, at least one sign of burnout was observed in almost half (46%) the physicians surveyed.3 In another study of practicing physicians of all specialties nationwide, published in 201 1, almost two-thirds of physicians stated they were more stressed or burned out than they were 3 years previously4 Medical students and residents are at risk of burnout and there is evidence that it develops cumulatively over time.5 Between...