Curtis N. Sessler, MD, FCCP

The work of critical care clinicians can create a perfect storm for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced self-efficacy – widely known as burnout. Burnout is occurring in record numbers among physicians in general – more than twice as frequently as for non-health-care workers – and intensivists top the chart. Clinicians from all specialties in medicine today experience the frustrations of workplace chaos and loss of control, displacement of meaningful work with menial work, and ever increasing documentation requirements and electronic health record challenges – all contributing to burnout. Intensivists and other ICU professionals, such as advanced practice providers and nurses, however, experience the added challenge of working in a highly stressful environment characterized by fast-paced high-stakes decision making, long and irregular hours, and end-of-life scenarios often clouded by moral distress. These and other drivers contribute to high rates of burnout.

Being burned out takes its toll on health-care workers, contributing to psychological and physical manifestations, alcohol or substance abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, and even suicidal ideation. Additionally, burnout carries important negative consequences for the organization and directly to the patient, including higher rates of employee turnover, lower quality of work, more medical errors, and reduced patient satisfaction. Unfortunately, burnout rates continue to rise with alarming speed.

Fortunately, there is increasing attention paid to the magnitude and potential impact of burnout, compelling important organizations to highlight the problem and assist clinicians in combating burnout and its consequences. For example, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has convened an Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience and invited more than 100 organizations to publish their statement of commitment to improve clinician well-being and reduce clinician burnout (https://nam.edu/initiatives/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/). The American Medical Association (AMA) has developed modules and tools to assist clinicians and administrators in taking important steps to prevent burnout (https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/physician-burnout).

CHEST has been an active participant in addressing burnout in ICU professionals, including in an important partnership with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the American Thoracic Society (ATS), and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) - the Critical Care Societies Collaborative (CCSC). The CCSC, whose members include greater than 150,000 critical care professionals in the United States, has established a principle goal of mitigating ICU burnout (#StopICUBurnout). One of the first CCSC efforts was to publish a white paper simultaneously in all four journals of the CCSC professional societies that provides the rationale and direction for a “call for action” to tackle ICU burnout (Moss M, Good VS, Gozal D, Kleinpell R, Sessler CN. Burnout syndrome in critical care health care professionals: A call for action. Chest. 2016;150[1]:17). Recently, the CCSC sponsored a National Summit on the Prevention and Management of Burnout in the ICU (http://ccsconline.org/optimizing-the-workforce/burnout). Fifty-five invited participants brought wide ranging expertise and substantial enthusiasm to the task of deconstructing ICU burnout and identifying knowledge gaps and future directions. Areas of focused discussion included factors influencing burnout, identifying individuals with burnout, the value of organizational and individual interventions to prevent and manage burnout, and translation of these discussions into a research agenda. CHEST and the CCSC are committed to the goals of enhancing clinician well-being and eliminating burnout in the ICU.

The work of critical care clinicians can create a perfect storm for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced self-efficacy – widely known as burnout. Burnout is occurring in record numbers among physicians in general – more than twice as frequently as for non-health-care workers – and intensivists top the chart. Clinicians from all specialties in medicine today experience the frustrations of workplace chaos and loss of control, displacement of meaningful work with menial work, and ever increasing documentation requirements and electronic health record challenges – all contributing to burnout. Intensivists and other ICU professionals, such as advanced practice providers and nurses, however, experience the added challenge of working in a highly stressful environment characterized by fast-paced high-stakes decision making, long and irregular hours, and end-of-life scenarios often clouded by moral distress. These and other drivers contribute to high rates of burnout.

Being burned out takes its toll on health-care workers, contributing to psychological and physical manifestations, alcohol or substance abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, and even suicidal ideation. Additionally, burnout carries important negative consequences for the organization and directly to the patient, including higher rates of employee turnover, lower quality of work, more medical errors, and reduced patient satisfaction. Unfortunately, burnout rates continue to rise with alarming speed.

Fortunately, there is increasing attention paid to the magnitude and potential impact of burnout, compelling important organizations to highlight the problem and assist clinicians in combating burnout and its consequences. For example, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has convened an Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience and invited more than 100 organizations to publish their statement of commitment to improve clinician well-being and reduce clinician burnout (https://nam.edu/initiatives/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/). The American Medical Association (AMA) has developed modules and tools to assist clinicians and administrators in taking important steps to prevent burnout (https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/physician-burnout).

CHEST has been an active participant in addressing burnout in ICU professionals, including in an important partnership with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the American Thoracic Society (ATS), and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) - the Critical Care Societies Collaborative (CCSC). The CCSC, whose members include greater than 150,000 critical care professionals in the United States, has established a principle goal of mitigating ICU burnout (#StopICUBurnout). One of the first CCSC efforts was to publish a white paper simultaneously in all four journals of the CCSC professional societies that provides the rationale and direction for a “call for action” to tackle ICU burnout (Moss M, Good VS, Gozal D, Kleinpell R, Sessler CN. Burnout syndrome in critical care health care professionals: A call for action. Chest. 2016;150[1]:17). Recently, the CCSC sponsored a National Summit on the Prevention and Management of Burnout in the ICU (http://ccsconline.org/optimizing-the-workforce/burnout). Fifty-five invited participants brought wide ranging expertise and substantial enthusiasm to the task of deconstructing ICU burnout and identifying knowledge gaps and future directions. Areas of focused discussion included factors influencing burnout, identifying individuals with burnout, the value of organizational and individual interventions to prevent and manage burnout, and translation of these discussions into a research agenda. CHEST and the CCSC are committed to the goals of enhancing clinician well-being and eliminating burnout in the ICU.

The work of critical care clinicians can create a perfect storm for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced self-efficacy – widely known as burnout. Burnout is occurring in record numbers among physicians in general – more than twice as frequently as for non-health-care workers – and intensivists top the chart. Clinicians from all specialties in medicine today experience the frustrations of workplace chaos and loss of control, displacement of meaningful work with menial work, and ever increasing documentation requirements and electronic health record challenges – all contributing to burnout. Intensivists and other ICU professionals, such as advanced practice providers and nurses, however, experience the added challenge of working in a highly stressful environment characterized by fast-paced high-stakes decision making, long and irregular hours, and end-of-life scenarios often clouded by moral distress. These and other drivers contribute to high rates of burnout.

Being burned out takes its toll on health-care workers, contributing to psychological and physical manifestations, alcohol or substance abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, and even suicidal ideation. Additionally, burnout carries important negative consequences for the organization and directly to the patient, including higher rates of employee turnover, lower quality of work, more medical errors, and reduced patient satisfaction. Unfortunately, burnout rates continue to rise with alarming speed.

Fortunately, there is increasing attention paid to the magnitude and potential impact of burnout, compelling important organizations to highlight the problem and assist clinicians in combating burnout and its consequences. For example, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has convened an Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience and invited more than 100 organizations to publish their statement of commitment to improve clinician well-being and reduce clinician burnout (https://nam.edu/initiatives/clinician-resilience-and-well-being/). The American Medical Association (AMA) has developed modules and tools to assist clinicians and administrators in taking important steps to prevent burnout (https://www.stepsforward.org/modules/physician-burnout).

CHEST has been an active participant in addressing burnout in ICU professionals, including in an important partnership with the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the American Thoracic Society (ATS), and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) - the Critical Care Societies Collaborative (CCSC). The CCSC, whose members include greater than 150,000 critical care professionals in the United States, has established a principle goal of mitigating ICU burnout (#StopICUBurnout). One of the first CCSC efforts was to publish a white paper simultaneously in all four journals of the CCSC professional societies that provides the rationale and direction for a “call for action” to tackle ICU burnout (Moss M, Good VS, Gozal D, Kleinpell R, Sessler CN. Burnout syndrome in critical care health care professionals: A call for action. Chest. 2016;150[1]:17). Recently, the CCSC sponsored a National Summit on the Prevention and Management of Burnout in the ICU (http://ccsconline.org/optimizing-the-workforce/burnout). Fifty-five invited participants brought wide ranging expertise and substantial enthusiasm to the task of deconstructing ICU burnout and identifying knowledge gaps and future directions. Areas of focused discussion included factors influencing burnout, identifying individuals with burnout, the value of organizational and individual interventions to prevent and manage burnout, and translation of these discussions into a research agenda. CHEST and the CCSC are committed to the goals of enhancing clinician well-being and eliminating burnout in the ICU.