It is estimated that 2 out of 5 psychiatrists have professional burnout. Addressing this problem has become one of the most pressing issues for medicine. According to a poll by MGMA, 40% of medical groups reported having a physician retire early or leave the organization due to burnout in 2022. This was an increase from a similar poll conducted in 2021. Many organizations do not have formal plans to reduce physician burnout.

The drivers of physician burnout are complex, but include the stressors of spending large portions of the clinical day engaged in inefficient activities that are not directly related to the provision of care to their patients, such as being required to use EHRs in ways that do not primarily promote their clinical activities (whether by faults in the EHR’s design or by institutional requirements). Reducing that time to allow physicians to spend more time using their unique skills developed through years of education, training, and experience to care for patients is one important step in managing burnout.

The APA is committed to helping psychiatrists achieve well-being and to addressing individual and system-level challenges which contribute to professional burnout. Among the resources available to physicians to help identify professional struggles they are having and help them manage their own well-being are:

• APA Well-being and Burnout Toolkit

• Duke Center for Healthcare Safety and Quality Well-being Toolkit

• AMA playbook for saving time

• Reframing Clinician Distress: Moral Injury Not Burnout

• Managing Healthcare Workers’ Stress Associated with the COVID-19 Virus Outbreak