We came across this article in Psychiatric Times by Alana Mendelsohn, MD, PhD, titled “Beneath the Wheel: A Resident Reflects on Burnout and Professional Identity.” The article addresses the unique challenges physicians face in clinical practice and the concerning burnout that can result, all told from the perspective of a resident. As she writes, “Unable to spend adequate time with patients, residents are not learning to function as doctors, but merely as technicians for the human body.” This is one of many reasons why doctors are getting out of clinical practice and turning to nonclinical jobs and csareers, consulting, and entrepreneurial opportunities.
From the article: “In ideal circumstances, a doctor’s professional identity centers around not only using one’s knowledge of medicine to educate and help individuals who are suffering from illnesses, but also exercising compassion and earning respect through competence, ingenuity, and fortitude. However, the unfortunate reality is that modern medicine is practiced within an increasingly inefficient, dysfunctional, and bureaucratic health care system that limits our ability to live up to this standard. In other words, the problem we are facing in residency is that medicine has changed, but medical training has not.”
You can read the full article here.
