A study published this week in the Annual of Internal Medicine estimated the costs of physician burnout in the US.https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2734784/estimating-attributable-cost-physician-burnout-united-states )
On a national scale, the conservative base-case model estimates that approximately $4.6 billion in costs related to physician turnover and reduced clinical hours is attributable to burnout each year in the United States. This estimate ranged from $2.6 billion to $6.3 billion in multivariate probabilistic sensitivity analyses. At an organizational level, the annual economic cost associated with burnout related to turnover and reduced clinical hours is approximately $7600 per employed physician each year.
Medicine is a high stress job and doctors are under increasing pressure to meet productivity goals and face increasing burdens of paperwork and bureaucracy. Irregular physician work schedules also lead to contribution to feelings of social isolation and a lack of autonomy, both indicators of burn-out.
A [separate study](https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(15)00716-8/fulltext ) revealed that 54% of all physicians report having at least 1 symptom of burn-out, using the Maslack Burnout Inventory, a validated tool for measuring burnout.
Burnout is very highly associated with major depression and suicide.
[What’s Doctor Burnout Costing America?](Physician Burnout Costs The U.S. Health Care System Billions Each Year : Shots - Health News : NPR )
See also:Doctors Die By Suicide At Double The Rate Of The General Population : Shots - Health News : NPR )
An estimated 300 to 400 doctors kill themselves each year, a rate of 28 to 40 per 100,000 or more than double that of general population. That is according to a review of 10 years of literature on the subject presented at the American Psychiatry Association annual meeting in May.
It also means that the cost of subsidizing medical residencies (and sometimes medical schools) is not optimally used, if some of the physicians educated and trained there work less than expected or leave the profession.
300 to 400 never did much for me. I find it better to phrase it as almost an entire medical school kills itself every year.
Yeah, wow. I wonder how many are feeling crushing misery but don’t see any way to change things.