Occupational Stress in Oncology Staff

Abstract

Oncology clinicians witness challenging situations involving seriously ill cancer patients and distressed families across the cancer trajectory. These experiences coupled with the complexity of cancer and end-of-life care can be onerous, causing disengagement and poor work performance. Oncology clinicians deliver complex interdisciplinary care in an ever-evolving field that increasingly cures but creates complex side effects while most patients still ultimately succumb to cancer. This is often meaningful work, but an oncology service can also be one of the most demanding and stressful areas of medicine. Oncology clinicians face myriad issues that take a toll on clinician mental health. The healthcare system is currently evolving and frustratingly can create inadvertent obstacles in care delivery. Oncology also brings up existential worry for most clinicians who are faced with patients suffering at every stage of the cancer trajectory in and out of crisis states. Many oncology clinicians encounter their own distress, depression, and professional burnout. In the last several years, attention to burnout has skyrocketed across medical disciplines. This chapter focuses on burnout in oncology, its subtypes, implications, and antidotes in mental health restoration.