Doctors on the edge: How we’re quietly saying ‘no more’
Doctors face rising burnout. Here’s how many are quietly saying “no more” and redefining balance in today’s healthcare system.
Dr Corrigan
2025-08-25
Doctors face rising burnout. Here’s how many are quietly saying “no more” and redefining balance in today’s healthcare system.
Every year, thousands of physicians quit their jobs leaving hospitals, clinics, and academic centers behind. When they go, most organizations conduct exit interviews to gather feedback on salary, workload, or management. But there’s a deeper conversation that almost never happens: the emotional exit interview. This is the chance for doctors to honestly express how their hearts have been bruised by the very profession they once loved—and for institutions to learn what truly drives physicians away.
Burnout in medicine is often described as the invisible epidemic, a silent crisis
Many physicians stay in their roles but have quietly “quit” in spirit—going through the motions while their passion and engagement vanish.
Let me confess something that might sound ridiculous coming from a doctor: for most of my career, I treated rest like a threat. A sign of weakness. A guilty pleasure to be earned only after I’d answered every email, seen every patient, signed off every note, and probably rotated the tires on someone else’s car just to be safe.
Is the motive behind resilience training to retain staff so that the system can continue to stay revenue-positive, or is it an investment in the ultimate resource of medicine, the human one?
We need to talk about physician suicide. Nearly 300 physicians die by suicide every year. National tragedy does not begin to describe it. The agony experienced not just by the victims but their loved ones, colleagues, and patients doesn’t bear thinking about.
Nearly 300 doctors a year die by suicide. That’s a million patients losing their doctors every year. Beyond the horrific numbers are the human stories. In this article, we reference a physician suicide register that collected details of our lost colleagues.
We remember the human beings — physicians, bright, dedicated, loved and loving, yet still human — who died by suicide.
As a psychiatrist, it took me only a few years in practice to realise that everyone needs a therapist (at least once in their lives). Doctors, nurses, and all healthcare practitioners (HCPs) are no different.
At a recent Physicians Anonymous meeting, we discussed an article on random acts of kindness. Researchers gave 84 random people in a wintry Chicago park free hot chocolates. They were then given the choice to gift it to another or keep it for themselves. Guess what happened?
Women physicians still face disproportionate challenges within their medical careers compared to men. Unsurprisingly, those women who face more work-related stressors report less satisfaction with their careers, and more burnout occurs in female doctors.
This blog explores the science of gratitude for physicians, how it may tackle burnout, and gives some suggestions for gratitude practice.
In a previous article, we explored the evidence base for gratitude. In this article, we illustrate 7 physician gratitude practices that may help on a level. We also note that no one intervention is a panacea for the core systemic issues causing the current epidemic of physician burnout and moral injury.
If there is anything positive to come from this pandemic, it is the realization of the importance of peer support. Physician peer support programs with an emphasis on preventing burnout and growing community have are being piloted and implemented in different ways and organizations around the country.
In this article, I write about 5 steps towards physician post-traumatic growth. These are simple daily practices that may help you rebuild with precious metal holding and enhancing your imperfections.
For those of us who survive the trauma of medicine, there is indeed the possibility of physicians rebuilding happier, stronger, maybe even smarter. Like a shattered vase repaired with gold running through it, post-traumatic growth for physicians is a thing.
While traits like conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism are helpful in being a successful and safe clinician, they can have their downsides.
Physician loneliness is a thing. In Part 2, I look at the lonely physician and systemic (“Them”) factors and solutions.
We humans are wired for connection. Our ancestors evolved as social beings because, simply, working together as a band of humanoids increased their chances of survival and reproduction. Multiple studies have shown that collaboration engenders survival advantage. Yet physician loneliness is a real thing.
In this article, we look at the connection between charting and physician burnout. We also examine innovations to try and reduce charting-related fatigue and physician burnout.
In this article, we explore the link between the burnout syndrome as it relates to doctors, and the impacts on their physical and mental health.