American College of Cardiology (ACC) President Edward T.A. Fry, MD, FACC, an interventional and general cardiologist at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis and chair of the Ascension National Cardiovascular Service Line, discusses cardiologist burnout. Clinicians across medicine had issues with burnout prior to the COVID-19, but the pandemic added new stresses and greatly accelerated existing issues that cause burnout.
"This is another problem that existed before the pandemic, but the statistics show that the incidents of burnout and the severity of burnout doubled during the pandemic, and that’s not surprising in the least," Fry explained.
He said there have been great clinical demands placed on the entire cardiovascular team during the pandemic, not just on the physicians, but nurses, technicians and administrators. There were also concerns in the first year about how serious of a health threat COVID was, and there were limitations on resources. "Early on, we didn’t even know if you’d die if you walked in the hospital to take care of somebody — it was a very scary situation," he said.
Other causes of burnout include a sense of disengagement and a feeling that perhaps cardiologists have lost some of their professionalism, which he said is really defined by self-governance and self-responsibility. Fry said this was magnified in cardiology over the past two decades, where there was a huge shift from 90% of cardiologists being independent or in an academic practice to today, when 80% of cardiologists are employed.
"That great change sort of peaked in 2008 or 2010, so we now have half a generation of cardiologists who have probably never experienced things other than employment," he said. "From that mindset may come a sense that they don't have a control over their profession and their environment, and that's a big driver of burnout."
Cardiologists, like everyone else, have stress and many factors affecting their lives, and there needs to be a removal of barriers to cardiologists admitting they have issues coping and might need help. Fry said no cardiologist wants to fill out state licensing questions related to personal mental health. Fry said often these questions are just not answered honestly on licensing or credentialing documents and changes should be made so it is OK for them to seek mental health help if they feel they need it.
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Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.