Ceux des MDs au Canada est ... Wednesday � August 20 � 2003
Nearly half of MDs are burned out: study Mary Vallis CanWest News Service WINNIPEG -- An alarming number of Canadian doctors are suffering from burnout and may abandon their practices as a result, a new study suggests. A survey conducted for the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) between February and June found nearly half (45.7 per cent) of the responding physicians were in "an advanced phase of burnout," characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism and feelings of ineffectiveness in their work. "Physicians are facing increasingly harsh realities -- worsening work conditions, regressive government legislation and being shut out of decision-making at all levels of government," said CMA president Dr. Dana Hanson. "The result is clear. More and more physicians are suffering from burnout." The survey suggests the proportion of burned-out doctors is higher than in other professions. About 40 per cent of Canada's general population reports having such feelings, the CMA said. The trend was most pronounced among young doctors: More than half -- 51.5 per cent -- of the respondents between the ages of 35 and 44 were in an advanced stage of burnout. In response to the results, Dr. Hanson announced the launch of the Centre for Physician Health and Well-Being yesterday at the CMA's annual meeting. The centre will be a national resource for physicians who need assistance, providing them with Web resources and a national help line in addition to provincial programs that are already in place. It will be advertised in medical journals and magazines this fall. Dr. Hanson said during his tenure as president, his conversations with doctors throughout Canada suggested burnout was becoming a serious problem. "These were people who were hurting and were reaching out. I think we, as a profession, have to do better in reaching out to those people." Dr. Michael Kaufmann, director of the Ontario Medical Association's physician health program, said confronting the issue is vital because burned-out doctors may abandon their practices, he said. "We need to promote a productive working environment which allows the doctors to believe in what they're doing, and enjoy the honour of what they're doing, because that's the way it ought to be." The majority of doctors who responded to the CMA's questionnaire, 58 per cent, said their personal or family life has suffered because they chose careers in medicine. Many of the respondents said they felt trapped by their obligations to patients. "I strive to appear to be patient and enthusiastic to patients and colleagues and put their needs ahead of my own," one doctor wrote. "Meanwhile, I'm silently burning out inside, and finding work less rewarding. I would quit practising medicine, but I'm trapped..." Female doctors were more likely to report burnout than their male counterparts -- 47.6 per cent vs. 44.6 per cent. "The question of physician morale hasn't been taken sufficiently seriously," said Dr. Danielle Martin, president of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students. She worries the statistics could deter the best and brightest candidates from entering the field. "What kind of intelligent human being ... would look at a profession where more than half of the people are totally burned out and say, 'Gee, that's what I'd love to do for the rest of my life'? " The results of the survey, which included responses from 2,251 doctors, is considered accurate within 2.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. � Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com --- URG-L Pour quitter URG-L, envoyez un message a la liste ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) avec, COMME SUJET, le mot REMOVE (rien d'autre).
