Burnout in doctors and the quality of patient care: Our systematic review

There is increasing evidence that healthcare staff burnout is linked to a range of negative outcomes, including increased staff absences, higher rate of staff turnover, and poorer quality of patient care (see my previous blog on this here). In a systematic review I co-authored, we found that that 21 out of 30 (70%) studies looking at the link between higher staff burnout and poorer patient safety reported a significant association between the two (Hall et al., 2016). The review found hard evidence for what many clinicians could see happening in their wards and surgeries: when staff are hard pressed, patient care suffers. It was well received on social media and has since been cited dozens of times.

However, while this previous review found clear evidence for a link between staff burnout and patient safety, it seemed to me that two questions remained unanswered. The first was whether there is also a link between burnout and other aspects of patient care, such as patient satisfaction. The second was what the strength of this relationship is: that is, just how much do increases in burnout impact patient care?

So, when I was invited to contribute to a systematic review on the links between burnout and patient care in doctors by Dr Maria Panagioti, I jumped at the chance. The review led by Dr Panagioti aimed to answer both these questions. It gathered studies which investigated burnout in doctors in relation to a broader range of outcomes, including:

1. Patient safety incidents, (e.g., adverse events, medication errors, diagnostic incidents)
2. Low professionalism (e.g., adherence to treatment guidelines, quality of communication, malpractice claims, empathy)
3. Low patient satisfaction

It also quantified the strength of these relationships using meta-analysis, which was not employed in the previous review.

Is burnout linked with patient safety incidents?

The review identified 21 studies which reported on the association between burnout and patient safety incidents. The results of the meta-analyses suggested that burnt-out doctors were twice as likely to be involved in a patient safety incident as those not suffering from burnout. All aspects of burnout (exhaustion, disengagement and low accomplishment) were associated with a significantly higher risk of being involved in a patient safety incident.

Is burnout linked with low professionalism?

28 studies were found which reported on the link between burnout and low professionalism (e.g., showing low empathy, having received a malpractice claim). The results of the meta-analyses suggested that burnt-out doctors were twice as likely to show low professionalism. When the different aspects of burnout were examined separately, disengagement was the aspect most linked with low professionalism. Doctors who were disengaged from their patients were 3-times as likely to exhibit low professionalism. Doctors high in emotional exhaustion or low in personal accomplishment were over 2.5-times as likely to exhibit low professionalism.

Importantly, the review found that the link between burnout and low professionalism was twice as high in trainee and early career doctors compared with more experienced doctors. This is particularly concerning when the recent GMC survey results showing that a quarter of trainee doctors are burnt-out are considered.

Is burnout linked with low patient satisfaction?

7 studies reported measures of patient satisfaction. It was found that burnt-out doctors were at twice the risk of having dissatisfied patients. Again, disengagement was the aspect of burnout most closely linked with low patient satisfaction, with disengaged doctors showing a 4.5-fold increased risk. Low personal accomplishment was also linked with twice the risk of low patient satisfaction. No link was found with emotional exhaustion.

Where now?

This review finds strong evidence that burnt-out doctors are at significantly higher risk of being involved in patient safety incidents, showing low professionalism and having dissatisfied patients. Having clarified the presence and size of the problem of burnout for patient care, the next step for us as researchers is to identify evidence-based solutions to this problem. While a number of interventions to reduce burnout have been proposed (see Panagioti et al., 2017), there is a need to identify 1) which interventions are most feasible and most effective, and 2) whether reducing burnout can improve patient care.

For my previous blog on tackling burnout, please see here.

The review described in this article was published in JAMA: Internal Medicine. To read it, please see here.