Can we reduce burnout amongst cancer health professionals?

Abstract

Cancer doctors, in common with doctors generally, are at particular risk of poor mental health, compared with the general working population. This includes both work-related burnout and more pervasive psychiatric problems such as clinical depression and anxiety. In 2002, about a third of United Kingdom (UK) hospital consultants were estimated to experience psychiatric morbidity compared with 15% of the general working population. In this issue, Blanchard and colleagues confirm high levels of burnout exist amongst junior oncology doctors in France. Whether working in cancer care in itself increases the risk of poor mental health amongst doctors is unclear. A large cohort study of UK consultants reported higher levels of estimated psychiatric morbidity amongst medical, clinical and surgical oncologists compared with other specialty groups. By contrast other studies have reported comparably high rates of poor mental health in other high pressured specialty groups. The high levels of poor mental health amongst doctors as a professional group matters not only because of the consequences for them and their family, but also because of the impact it has on their ability to deliver high quality patient care. Hospital consultants, including cancer consultants with poor mental health are twice as likely to report harmful consumption of alcohol, being irritable with patients, being irritable with colleagues, reducing their standards of care at work