Medical errors may come more from the exhaustion of physicians than dangerous health care settings | Information Center

"We found that doctors suffering from burnout had more than twice the probability of self-reported medical error, after adjusting for specialty, work hours, fatigue and safety clearance of the work unit, "says Tawfik. "We also found that low degrees of safety in work units were associated with three or four times the probability of medical error."

Shanafelt said, "This indicates that the level of burnout and Security features of the work units are independent. risk of errors.

Physician burnout has become a national epidemic, with many studies indicating that about half of all physicians experience symptoms of exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of depression. reduced efficiency. The new study notes that burnout also affects quality of care, patient safety, turnover and patient satisfaction.

"Today, most organizations invest substantial resources. Very few devote equal attention to the systemic factors that cause burnout among doctors and nurses working in this unit, "said Shanafelt. "We need a holistic and systemic approach to fighting the exhaustion epidemic among health care providers if we really want to create the high quality health care system we aspire to "

The study also showed that errors even tripled in medical work units, even those classified as extremely safe, if doctors working in this unit had high levels of burnout." . This indicates that burnout can be an even greater cause of medical error than a poor security environment, Tawfik said.

"Until recently, the dominant thinking was that if medical errors occur, you must repair the safety at work. with things like checklists and better team work, "said Tawfik." This study shows that it's probably not enough. We need a two-pronged approach to reduce medical errors that also deal with the depletion of doctors.

Impact on Physicians

In addition to their effects on patients, errors and burnout can also have serious personal consequences for physicians. "We also know from our previous work that burnout and medical errors independently double the risk of suicidal thoughts among physicians," Shanafelt said. "This contributes to the higher risk of suicide deaths among physicians compared to other professionals."

Jochen Profit, MD, an associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford, and researchers at Mayo Clinic also contributed to the study.

work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01HD084679 and K24HD053771), the Jackson Vaughan Critical Care Research Fund, the Mayo Clinic Program on the Well-Being of Physicians and the American Medical Association and the Mayo Clinic Program on Physician Well-Being. 19659002] Stanford Department of Medicine also supported the work.