Physician burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Physician burnout is associated with reduced quality of care and patient satisfaction and increased costs. We sought to quantify professional fulfillment levels and burnout rates and identify drivers of burnout among physicians within Vancouver Coastal Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Members of the Vancouver Physician Staff Association were surveyed in the fall of 2020. The Stanford Professional Fulfillment Index was used to assess physician professional fulfillment and burnout. Physicians were also asked to assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on their physical and mental health, determine psychological safety within their department, and identify interventions to improve their well-being. Results: Of the 1949 physicians contacted, 566 (29%) responded to the survey. Results were analyzed for 84% of the responses (475/566); the completion rate was 24% (475/1949). The overall professional fulfillment level was 25.3%, and the overall burnout rate was 51.4%. Interventions that physicians felt would improve their well-being included providing higher financial remuneration, improving patient access to resources, enhancing staff support, and providing coaching sessions and better support for work-life balance. Conclusions: Further work is needed at every level-individual, departmental, and systemic- to address physician burnout. It is our hope that these survey results will help drive systemic, cultural, and organizational changes to improve physician well-being.