Canaries in the Mine are Dying Less. That Does Not Mean the Miners are Safer.
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Colleagues:
“If a canary dies in a mine, do we say that the canary should have done more yoga, or do we say that something is wrong with the mine?” This is the conundrum that physicians face with job stress and burnout.
Yes, there are coping mechanisms that can be learned that contribute to physician resilience. However, physician suicides and physicians leaving practice are signs that the current practice environment is not sustainable, and something needs to change. Recent news headlines are reporting that physician burnout rates have dipped below 50% for the first time since the Covid pandemic. This is based on AMA surveys that physicians have self-reported burnout rates of 63% in 2021, 53% in 2022, and 48% in 2023.
Although some may take this as good news and that the problem of burnout is improving, these numbers conflict with what I am hearing as I travel as your President around NY State. I am hearing urgent pleas for MSSNY to do more to help physicians in independent practice and physicians who are employed.
So, what gives? What does it mean when the survey numbers are improving? In the last 3 years, large numbers of physicians have left practice by retirement, by suicide, or by changing to other types of work. This change in the workforce thus changes who is left to fill out the surveys. These are the physicians who feel burnout less. This does not mean that the practice environment has improved. It means we have lost those who are least resilient. Furthermore, even a 48% rate of burnout and moral injury is still way too high.
MSSNY’s P2P program is here to help. The program gives physicians, residents, and medical students an opportunity to talk with a peer about work or life stressors. If you know a physician struggling with life stressors, contact the P2P program at [email protected] or 1-844-P2P-PEER (1-844-727-7337) to connect them with a peer supporter.
The canaries in the mine are still dying. More needs to be done before all the canaries are surviving.
All the best,
Jerome C. Cohen, MD
MSSNY President
