Breaking down the literature on avoiding surgeon burnout - An integrative review focused on increasing surgeon well-being.

Details

Supervisors

Janne, Pascal ; Gourdin, Maximilien

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences psychologiques, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

The training of surgeons is long, strenuous, and ultimately leads to the development of a multitude of technical and non-technical skills. Unfortunately, while they are extensively taught about surgery, they fail to learn how to live as surgeons. Their personal relationships as well as their mental and physical health suffer from the lifestyle they lead, as indicates the abundant literature available on this subject. Health practitioners are especially prone to occupational burnout due to the nature of their work. Surgeons, even more so if they are female, manifest alarmingly high rates of this syndrome, with many surveys identifying rates of around 40% of surgeons with symptoms of occupational burnout. The burden of surgeon work-related burnout and other mental illnesses is high in social, human, and economic terms. It leads to a wide array of adverse consequences varying from a decreased quality of patient care to increased physician turnover, only to name a few. The quality of life of surgeons being way below population norms, medical students are reluctant to engage in surgical careers which contributes to the surgeon recruitment crisis that many hospitals are facing. Surgeons are strained and their situation is worsening over time. Therefore, it is crucial that surgeon well-being is addressed and that strategies to promote mental health for these health care professionals are implemented in order for the health care system to continue providing the best possible care for the patients. Hence, the aim of this work is to break down the literature on surgeon burnout, starting with the reluctance of students to pursue this career, over the contributing factors to burnout and its consequences, to potential solutions to increase surgeon well-being on a multidimensional level. It answers three questions: 1.How does surgeon burnout arise? 2.What are the consequences of it? 3.How can surgeon well-being be improved? To answer these questions, this paper proceeds by breaking down the literature on the three following subjects. The first one, surgery as a career choice, provides context for comprehending the following chapters and introduces some key elements, such as work-home balance. The second subject, surgeon burnout, offers an in-depth comprehension of the intensifying crisis that surgeons are facing, and the third subject, increasing surgeon well-being, focuses on investigating the possible personal and institutional factors that could contribute to increasing surgeon wellness, all while discussing the gender specific problematics. For every one of these subjects, the literature is systematically reviewed, resulting in an essay that offers an extensive comprehension of the surgical lifestyle, its issues, and possible paths of resolution.