Physician burnout remains a critical threat to physician well-being and patient safety. Prodigious documentation requirements, escalating productivity demands, and deleterious organizational culture all contribute to physicians burning out at twice the rate of other professionals. In this commentary, leaders of the National Academy of Medicine, Association of American Medical Colleges, and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education describe their crosscutting collaborative to understand burnout, teach about its dangers, and foster meaningful solutions. A related editorial highlights successful burnout initiatives such as standardized assessments and team-based models of primary care to reduce physicians' clerical burden. An Annual Perspective explored the relationship between burnout and patient safety and reviewed strategies to address burnout among clinicians.
Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; July 2017. AHRQ Publication No. 17-M018-1-EF.
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