
America’s health care workforce is under unprecedented strain, and leaders of the medical profession are scrambling to shore up doctors and nurses who are burning out in record numbers. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of a nationwide group of doctors and nurses said they are experiencing a moderate or great deal of burnout at work, according to a new HealthDay-Harris Poll online survey. Those numbers jibe with figures from top medical associations, officials said. For example, only 57% of doctors say they would choose medicine as a profession again, compared with 72% the year before, said Dr. Christine Sinsky, vice president of professional satisfaction at the American Medical Association. “Likewise, a year ago, 40% of physicians felt highly professionally satisfied. A year later, only 22%,” Sinsky said during a HealthDay Now interview. “So, I think a picture of a workforce in peril is coming into focus.” The National Academy of Medicine has seen a disturbingly similar trend. “Even before COVID, about 40% and up to 50% of doctors and nurses are reporting burnout, distress, anxiety,” Dr. Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine, told HealthDay Now. “And since COVID, the numbers have gone up to 70 to 90%.” Understaffing is the greatest contributor to burnout, with 66% of primary care physicians and 75% of nurses citing it in the HealthDay-Harris Poll survey. The amount of… read on > read on >