This industry isn't just hard on patients - it's also mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding for practitioners. We're acknowledging the human side of medical practice and taking steps to change the culture, to improve everyone's wellbeing.
Fighting Physician Burnout
More than half of physicians experience symptoms of burnout. Their emotional strain affects patients, work relationships, and personal lives, and the stress can literally be deadly, with physical effects like high blood pressure, headaches, insomnia, and weight gain, and mental ones like emotional exhaustion, lack of a sense of meaning at work, and suicide.
This is not a problem healthcare professionals can solve on their own. Emory is addressing systemic challenges from the top down by actively strengthening community, promoting autonomy, and allowing time for team members to pursue meaningful work. Our goal is to teach everyone about the risks, resources, and methods of self-care, to recognize the problem and provide interventions when needed.
What We're Doing to Help
We offer a range of support services for students, residents, fellows, and employees. Anyone can take advantage of one-on-one counseling, group workshops, and offsite and extra-hours consultation through the faculty staff assistance program, and our clinical facilities follow debriefing procedures to help providers reflect and grieve after traumatic cases.
These programs help our physicians deliver care with compassion and heal themselves as well as patients, while acknowledging the difficulties of the work that we do.
