As I am developing my expertise in understanding burnout in healthcare, I have compiled some of the most common questions I receive with abbreviated answers. This presentation covers some common myths, as well as where to get started in terms of addressing burnout in the healthcare industry.

1. Your burning questions about
burnout in healthcare
answered (pun intended)
An abbreviated guide by Erika del Pozo, MOT,
OTR/L, CEO & co-founder at Joy Energy Time

2. What is burnout?
Burnout is a psychological syndrome
that involves a prolonged response to chronic
stressors on the job. Burnout comprises of three
key ingredients: emotional exhaustion, increased
cynicism, and decreased self-efficacy.
Burnout is more than just a few bad days at
work here and there. The onset of acute fatigue
from work stressors over time becomes the
pivotal point in the burnout picture.

3. Is burnout the result of a
personal failing?
No. Although personality factors can play a role in the
development of burnout, the problem is rooted in the
work environment and care delivery system.
Unfortunately, the term has gotten a bad rep because
it has been believed that experiencing burnout means
you're weak or you've failed in some way.

4. What causes burnout?
The core factors include an unmanageable
workload, decreased autonomy, insufficient
rewards, broken community, value conflicts, and
injustice/unfairness/lack of respect.
Some other things include time demands,
juggling clinical and nonclinical duties,
documentation demands, and lowered morale
over bureaucratic delays.

5. Can burnout happen even if I
love my job?
Many of us think burnout can’t happen to us because we
love our field. Burnout begins with someone that is eager
that enters the workforce with positive expectations to
succeed.
What happens with burnout is that positive qualities
erode and turn into feelings of exhaustion, depletion,
irritability, cynicism, ineffectiveness, low ability
to cope, and failure.

6. What about outside of work?
There is a bidirectional relationship between
burnout and insomnia. Exposure to chronic work
stressors without opportunities for recovery can
facilitate the rate of burnout because there is a
depletion of resources.
Those that are burned out and also experience
sleep disturbances are further hindered from
replenishing their resources. Thus, the impact of
burnout spills over into other areas of life.

7. Why is burnout
still taboo?
That's a good question.
The cynicism associated with burnout is
taboo- talking about how distant you feel
from your patients and/or your profession
to your colleagues isn't usually well
received.
Depersonalization has been linked to low
professionalism in a systematic review of
physician burnout.

8. Does workplace bullying
impact burnout?
Yes. Workplace bullying is considered to be a major
work stressor, bringing forth destructive
consequences for employees who are the targets of
bullying, including severe depression and anxiety.
The experience of injustice at work has a strong
association with the exhaustion and cynicism
components of burnout.

9. Can self-care
help?
Yes and no.
Self-care will not fix the root of the
problem, but taking care of your
mental, spiritual, and physical health
is always a good idea.
There are hundreds of studies that
have concluded that the benefits of
personal strategies (i.e. meditation,
mindfulness, self-compassion,
exercise, etc.) can reduce the
exhaustion, cynicism, and efficacy
associated with burnout.

10. What can be done to address
this problem?
To start:
#1 People and organizations need to acknowledge
burnout for what it is.
#2 Organizations must embrace a growth mindset
and work on solutions.
#3 Ditch the passed-down culture of discrimination,
bullying, and silence and rebuild a culture of inclusion,
collaboration, and community.

11. EXPERTS PREDICT THAT IF
LEFT UNADDRESSED, BURNOUT
WILL FURTHER ERODE THE
MENTAL HEALTH OF DOCTORS
AND RADICALLY UNDERMINE
PATIENT CARE.
Robert Pearl, MD

12. Liked this
presentation?
Visit our website.
WWW.JOYENERGYTIME.COM

13. ... and listen to
The Burnt Out to
Lit Up Podcast.

14. Let's Connect
EMAIL
info@joyenergytime.com
TWITTER
@joy.energy.time
LINKEDIN
linkedin.com/in/erikadelpozo
@joyenergytime
@erika_delpozo
INSTAGRAM

15. References
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M.P. (2017). Understanding Burnout. In C.L. Cooper & J. CampbellQuick
(Eds.), The Handbook of stress and health: A guide to research and practice (36-56). Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley Blackwell
Toker, S., & Melamed, S. (2017). Stress, Recovery, Sleep, and Burnout. In C.L. Cooper& J. Campbell
Quick (Eds.), The Handbook of stress and health: A guide toresearch and practice (168-185).
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell
Toker, S., & Melamed, S. (2017). Stress, Recovery, Sleep, and Burnout. In C.L. Cooper& J. Campbell
Quick (Eds.), The Handbook of stress and health: A guide toresearch and practice (168-185).
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell
Shanafelt, T.D., Noseworthy, J.H. (2017) Executive leadership and physician well-being:Nine
organizational strategies to promote engagement and reduce burnout. Mayo Clinic
Proceedings. 2(1):129-146.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.10.004
Panagioti, M., Geraghty, K., Johnson, J., Zhou, A., Panagopoulou, E., Chew-Graham,C., Peters, D.,
Hodkinson, A., Riley, R., & Esmail, A. (2018). Association betweenphysician burnout and patient
safety, professionalism,and patient satisfaction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA
Intern Med. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.3713
Dyrbye, L.N., T.D. Shanafelt, C.A. Sinsky, P.F. Cipriano, J. Bhatt, A. Ommaya, C.P. West,and D.
Meyers. (2017). Burnout among health care professionals: A call to explore and address this
underrecognized threat to safe, high-quality care. NAM Perspectives. Discussion Paper, National
Academy of Medicine, Washington, DC. https://nam.edu/Burnout-Among-Health-Care-
Professionals.
Brand, S.L., Thompson Coon, J., Fleming, L.E., Carroll, L., Bethel, A., Wyatt, K. (2017) Whole-system
approaches to improving the health and wellbeing ofhealthcare workers:A systematic review.
PLoS ONE12(12):e0188418.https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0188418