Professional exhaustion and medical errors: 55% of the doctors concerned

In the United States, medical errors are responsible for 100 to 200,000 deaths each year. Faced with what they call a "national epidemic," Dr. Shanafelt, professor of hematology at Stanford, and his team, looked at the causes of the phenomenon.

To do this, researchers asked 6,695 physicians about their professional practice and state of mind. The results were published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings . 3574 carabins, or 55% of respondents, reported symptoms of burnout. 2163 (32.8% of respondents) reported excessive fatigue and 427 (6.5% of respondents) reported having had suicidal thoughts recently. In addition, 10% of the cohort reported at least one major medical error in the previous three months.

Cynicism

Figures that make sense, as "doctors suffering from burnout are twice as likely to commit a medical error as others," say the researchers. The physicians surveyed were also numerous to answer that they approached their profession with "cynicism" and "a feeling of reduced efficiency".

"This study shows that physician burnout must be taken into account to effectively reduce the incidence of medical errors in the United States," says Dr. Shanafelt. He adds: "In addition to their adverse impact on patients, burnout-related errors also have serious consequences for physicians, such as doubling suicidal risk." In the United States, doctors represent the military profession most affected by suicide, according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.

Non-badistance to anyone in danger

In France, 175 doctors sent an open letter to Prime Minister Edouard Philippe at the end of June to denounce the lack of resources they face on a daily basis. "We warn you about endangering the lives of others and not providing badistance to anyone in danger." Endangering the people who come to us, and endangering the professionals who must fulfill this task without to have the means, "said these professionals. Last January, it was on Twitter that health professionals mobilized with the hashtag #balancetonhosto.