POLICY
Mental health treatment for medical practitioners will never be the same.
by Marcela Del Carmen and Kerri Palamara McGrath
It is now possible to imagine a world recovered from COVID-19. In that future, how will medicine have changed? These 10 essays explore the technical, social and political ripples of the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated another public health crisis that had already reached epidemic proportions. Physician burnout is a syndrome characterized by depersonalization, emotional exhaustion and a low sense of personal accomplishment. It’s extremely common, afflicting about one in two physicians in the United States. Burnout can compromise physicians’ altruism, professionalism and the quality and safety of the care they provide. For individual physicians, burnout has been associated with cardiovascular disease, alcohol use, depression, suicide and a shorter life expectancy.