There are times when an employee is having difficulty finding the motivation and the energy to do a job. There are times when an employee is having difficulty with emotional outbursts like crying or anger spells. There are times when an employee will seem more than just frustrated. They may feel dispirited. They may feel discouraged.
Burnout is a collection of symptoms that describe when a person is feeling burdened by responsibilities to the point where they are having an emotional and physical toll on a person. Symptoms of burnout include emotional outbursts, lack of motivation, lack of energy, lack of enthusiasm, fatigue, and more.
Burnout has grown in terms of clinical interest during the past 40 years, as more and more individuals have been experiencing it in the workplace. It is possible that every job has the capacity to make some feel “burned out” but it happens most often in situations where a person has a great deal of responsibility and pressure.
These occupations will require employees to work long hours, often repeatedly, and they come with a certain amount of responsibility. These jobs include the medical profession, where burnout is seen often (more statistics to come), the legal profession, where there are long hours and great responsibility in many cases, and with upper management of companies.
While there are other jobs that cause burnout, these three classes of jobs show that burnout is a symptom of work schedule that is often more demanding than a person has the emotional ability to take on. A look at physicians provides more evidence that these claims are correct. Physicians suffer from some of the highest rates of burnout in America.
The responsibilities of physicians include taking care of patients, making decisions about the health of patients, prescribing medication (the correct medication, as the wrong one can hurt the patient), long hours (sometimes 12-16 hour days repeatedly), taking the job home at night, and more.
Physicians suffer from some of the highest burnout rate in the country. Their jobs are stressful, taking an impact on their personal lives. Their work life balance is difficult to manage, as patients and responsibilities often eat into their personal lives, personal time, and time with their families.
There are some statistics that show just how prevalent burnout is within the physician community. These statistics take a look at burnout in terms of the older physicians and the younger physicians. There are statistics about the divorce rates. There are statistics about the emotional toll their jobs take on them.
These statistics have been compiled from a variety of sources, including one physician lifestyle survey that looked at the differences in burnout between male and female physicians. They all indicate the burnout rate of physicians in the medical field, as well as other information.
- A recent study reported that 45.8% of physicians are considered to be experiencing at least one symptom of burnout.
- There is currently a 35.2% overall burnout rate among U.S. physicians.
- Physicians aged 35 and under have a burnout rate of 44%.
- A recent study showed that medical students report a rate of depression that’s 15% to 30% higher than the general population by a significant margin.
- Studies show that physicians are almost twice as likely as the general U.S. population to report being dissatisfied with their work-life balance.
- Physicians have a 10% to 20% higher divorce rate than the general population.
- According to a Medscape Physician Lifestyle Survey published in January 2017, emergency doctors suffer the highest rates of burnout of all medical professionals, with 59% agreeing they felt burned out.
- According to a Medscape Physician Lifestyle Survey, female physicians rated themselves higher on the physician burnout scale at 55% compared to male physicians rating themselves at 45%.
A work-life balance is crucial for many to recover from burnout symptoms. A work-life balance requires careful attention to different parts of a person’s life outside of work. A work-life balance might require hobbies or clubs that are not a part of a person’s work group. A work-life balance may mean spending time with family.
There are certain terms that are associated with burnout and burnout symptoms. They include workplace stress, workplace anger, stressful job, symptoms of being overtired, signs of job burnout, signs of emotional exhaustion, recovery from severe burnout, managing anger in the workplace, and more.