Addressing Palliative Care Clinician Burnout in Organizations: A Workforce Necessity, an Ethical Imperative.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Clinician burnout reduces the capacity for providers and health systems to deliver timely, high quality, patient-centered care and increases the risk that clinicians will leave practice. This is especially problematic in hospice and palliative care: patients are often frail, elderly, vulnerable, and complex; access to care is often outstripped by need; and demand for clinical experts will increase as palliative care further integrates into usual care. Efforts to mitigate and prevent burnout currently focus on individual clinicians. However, analysis of the problem of burnout should be expanded to include both individual- and systems-level factors as well as solutions; comprehensive interventions must address both. As a society, we hold organizations responsible for acting ethically, especially when it relates to deployment and protection of valuable and constrained resources. We should similarly hold organizations responsible for being ethical stewards of the resource of highly trained and talented clinicians through comprehensive programs to address burnout.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Harrison, KL; Dzeng, E; Ritchie, CS; Shanafelt, TD; Kamal, AH; Bull, JH; Tilburt, JC; Swetz, KM

Published Date

  • June 2017

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 53 / 6

Start / End Page

  • 1091 - 1096

PubMed ID

  • 28196784

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC5474199

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1873-6513

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2017.01.007

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • United States