About 46 percent of physicians are battling burnout, but one physician says the condition is not a "disease" but a symptom of professional unfulfillment that cannot be cured through higher pay, according to a report in The Atlantic.
Author Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD, said efforts to reduce physician burnout need to focus less on stress reduction and more on promoting "professional wholeness" through values like compassion, courage and wisdom.
Dr. Gunderman also said financial incentives or increased compensation won't change a physician's level of satisfaction. "At their core, good physicians are not mere moneymakers. Good physicians are professionals. And though today we often forget it, being a professional means more than merely getting paid for what we do," according to the report.
"[P]romoting professional fulfillment is not merely a matter of reducing costs and error rates or increasing clinical efficiency. Nor is it a matter of protecting and promoting the incomes of physicians," Dr. Gunderman continued. "[E]fforts to alter physician behavior through income-based incentives and disincentives are inherently demoralizing. The reason is simple: They imply that physicians care more about money than their patients. This constitutes a self-fulfilling prophecy of cynicism."
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Author Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD, said efforts to reduce physician burnout need to focus less on stress reduction and more on promoting "professional wholeness" through values like compassion, courage and wisdom.
Dr. Gunderman also said financial incentives or increased compensation won't change a physician's level of satisfaction. "At their core, good physicians are not mere moneymakers. Good physicians are professionals. And though today we often forget it, being a professional means more than merely getting paid for what we do," according to the report.
"[P]romoting professional fulfillment is not merely a matter of reducing costs and error rates or increasing clinical efficiency. Nor is it a matter of protecting and promoting the incomes of physicians," Dr. Gunderman continued. "[E]fforts to alter physician behavior through income-based incentives and disincentives are inherently demoralizing. The reason is simple: They imply that physicians care more about money than their patients. This constitutes a self-fulfilling prophecy of cynicism."
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