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Abstract
The focus of a health care professional's career is to care for other people. Over a lifetime, this often occurs at the expense of his/her own physical and mental health. An increased public awareness about mental health in general leads us to the question, who is taking care of those who take care of us? In the specialty of oncology, physicians and nurses are at increased risk for burnout or burnout syndrome. This review provides a brief look at literature supporting the view that oncology physicians and nurses are at increased risk for burnout, and discusses protective measures.
Keywords: cancer, oncology, oncologists, oncology nurses, burnout, burnout syndrome, self-care, Ontario, Canada
Introduction
Health care providers take on an enormous task embarking on a career built on providing medical care for the general public's physical and emotional lives. A question worth asking is who is taking care of them? Patient after patient, day after day, often with no time to eat, let alone time to take ten minutes to reflect on how tough cases are affecting them, doctors and nurses have to get through the day. In particular, oncology health care professionals have been shown to be at a greater risk for burnout, in part due to the complex and challenging nature of the clinical work, and also in part due to the high rates of patient death. One thing new and current oncology physicians have to figure out is how to do their jobs efficiently, accurately and with as much compassion as possible and also cope with their feelings each time they lose a patient to cancer.
Studies have shown caregivers supporting cancer patients feel they can't show negative emotions as frequently as they normally would, yet at the same time they are expected to show understanding and express sympathy to the patient (1). If the caregivers are at home with the patient, they often do not have an opportunity for a break. If the caregivers are the clinicians at the hospital, they too do not get a break: there are always more patients to be seen. There is no doubt, being a doctor is emotionally challenging, and oncology physicians have some unique challenges.
What is 'burnout'?
Specifically, burnout is a stress-related syndrome,...