Stress and Burnout

Burnout is the end stage of a period of overwhelming emotional exhaustion, a professional preoccupation of coping with the job and feelings of hopelessness and failure.

Burnout is the antithesis of 'job engagement', characterized by the three features of employee wellbeing: energy, involvement and efficacy.

Initial articles on burnout were written in the mid 1970s by psychiatrist Freudenberger and social psychologist, Christina Maslach. Maslach was studying emotions in the workplace, particularly in the healthcare setting where the core of the job is the relationship between the care provider and a recipient.

In 1997, Maslach redefined burnout as 'an erosion of engagement with the job'. What started out as important, fulfilling and meaningful becomes unpleasant, and meaningless. Maslach devised a well know and used check list to id burnout in the work place – it is often quoted in papers written on the subject (for those of you interested it can be purchased on the internet but is quiet expensive!)

Tasks

Some of you may have experiences of burnout in your professional lives both as individuals or viewing it happening to someone around you – A&E is a typical place people often melt down.

It would be good to discuss the tell tale signs, how the topic was approached with the individual and what help was on hand both for the individual and the team.

This is a typical oral MRCGP topic both in the guise of recognition and tackling the problem:

How would you respond if a patient of your commented that one of your partners seems depressed and uninterested but was still competent at their job? Similarly if that doctor smelt of alcohol?

Stress and Burnout

Stress and Burnout

Tasks

Further reading