Burnout: It’s Not You, It’s the System

“The problem with burnout is the workplace, not the worker,” shares Dr. Paul DeChant, CEO of the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation. Today, Dr. Paul joins host Lara to discuss the 6 drivers of burnout, including the systemic issues in our healthcare system that really need to be addressed in order to reduce burnout on a whole.

 

Often physicians blame themselves for their burnout or think it is all just due to exhaustion from work overload. In truth, burnout is largely a result of the system needing to be redesigned to work better for both physicians and patients alike. The main drivers of burnout are work overload, lack of control, insufficient reward, breakdown of community, absence of fairness, and values conflicts. People tend to become doctors because they love working with patients, but within the current system, two thirds of their time is spent on other tasks like administrative duties rather than time spent actually caring for patients. With restructuring, the system could be adapted to control for the drivers of burnout so that physicians are able to spend more time doing what they do best.

 

Burnout is not your fault, it’s the system’s. It’s easy to blame yourself for a lack of resilience, but the truth is that the majority of what drives burnout are factors built into the current healthcare system. 

 

Quotes

• “The problem with burnout is the workplace, not the worker.” (3:47-3:51 | Dr. Paul) 

• “Most people think it's exhaustion from overload and don't invest enough in redesigning.” (7:06-7:11 | Dr. Paul)

• “Recognize that the people who are doing the work and are suffering from that dysfunction, they know what's wrong. They have great ideas to make it better. They just don't rarely get the opportunity.” (8:55-9:07 | Dr. Paul)

• “The things that drive cynicism, control, reward, community, fairness, and values, those have so much to do with how you lead.” (13:23-13:32 | Dr. Paul)

Links

Connect with Paul DeChant:

Website: www.pauldechantmd.com

 

Connect with Lara: 

Website: https://drlarasalyer.com

Instagram: @drlarasalyer

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlarasalyer

Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlarasalyer/

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/DrLaraSalyer

TikTok: @Creativity.Doctor

 

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