Physician Burnout and the Calling to Care for the Dying.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Physician burnout raises concerns over what sustains physicians' career
motivations. We assess whether physicians in end-of-life specialties had higher rates
of burnout and/or calling to care for the dying. We also examined whether the patient
centeredness of the clinical environment was associated with burnout. METHODS: In
2010 to 2011, we conducted a national survey of US physicians from multiple specialties.
Primary outcomes were a validated single-item measure of burnout or sense of calling
to end-of-life care. Primary predictors of burnout (or calling) included clinical
specialty, frequency of encounters with dying patients, and patient centeredness of
the clinical environments ("My clinical environment prioritizes the need of the patient
over maximizing revenue"). RESULTS: Adjusted response rate among eligible respondents
was 62% (1156 of 1878). Nearly a quarter of physicians (23%) experienced burnout,
and rates were similar across all specialties. Half of the responding physicians (52%)
agreed that they felt called to take care of patients who are dying. Burned-out physicians
were more likely to report working in profit-centered clinical environments (multivariate
odds ratio [OR] of 1.9; confidence interval [CI]: 1.3-2.8) or experiencing emotional
exhaustion when caring for the dying (multivariate OR of 2.1; CI: 1.4-3.0). Physicians
who identified their work as a calling were more likely to work in end-of-life specialties,
to feel emotionally energized when caring for the dying, and to be religious. CONCLUSION:
Physicians from end-of-life specialties not only did not have increased rates of burnout
but they were also more likely to report a sense of calling in caring for the dying.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14618Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1177/1049909116661817Publication Info
Yoon, John D; Hunt, Natalie B; Ravella, Krishna C; Jun, Christine S; & Curlin, Farr
A (2016). Physician Burnout and the Calling to Care for the Dying. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. pp. 1049909116661817. 10.1177/1049909116661817. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14618.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Farr A Curlin
Professor of Medicine
Farr Curlin, MD, is Josiah Trent Professor of Medical Humanities in the Trent Center
for Bioethics, Humanities, & History of Medicine and Co-Director of the Theology,
Medicine and Culture Initiative (TMC) at Duke University. Dr. Curlin has worked to
bring attention to the intersection of medicine, ethics, and theology. In 2012 he
helped to found both the University of Chicago’s Program on Medicine and Religion
and the annual <a href="http

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