Chief Wellness Officers and Mental Health Services: Addressing Physician Burnout Demands Immediate Interventions

Physician burnout is a public health crisis that demands urgent action by healthcare institutions and governing bodies, according to the authors of a new paper from the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, Massachusetts Medical Society, and Harvard University. The paper, A Crisis in Health Care: A Call to Action on Physician Burnout, notes that burnout has become widespread due to rapid changes in the healthcare environment in which the day-to-day demands of physicians' jobs clash with their commitment to heal patients and provide care. The authors' goal is to inform and enable physicians and leadership to assess the magnitude of burnout and take measures to address it.