A new study has found that one in 10 emergency room doctors are leaving their position, in large part due to burnout. The new research study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is the culmination of six years of interviewing hundreds of emergency room physicians across Canada. The study found that 10 per cent of doctors are leaving the speciality because of burnout. Out of those who remain, 48 per cent have reduced their clinical hours in emergency medicine and 20 per cent have taken time off from emergency medicine. “The crisis is worsening year by year, the prevailing theme is that the health-care system is broken,” says Dr. Kerstin de Wit, the study’s lead author. “We found repeated references to the emergency department making up for system inadequacies, with fewer resources and little support, and the expectation that the situation will worsen. For many, the future of emergency medicine was hopeless, with no possibility of recovery,” adds Dr. de Wit. Many of the doctors surveyed across the country shared that they are burnt out, in part due to being forced to deliver hallway medicine to too many patients. They also highlighted a lack of staffing support on the ground. What is burnout? According to the authors of the study, burnout is a response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors experienced in work. Throughout the survey, burnout was measured through the dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of decreased personal accomplishment doctors experienced. Burnout can also lead to “career choice regret, low job satisfaction, workforce depletion, depression, and potentially suicide” the study wrote. Burnout in physicians is especially dangerous as it can result in poor professionalism and medical errors. “Patients are dying in our emergency departments, and we know this is going to continue to happen,” says Dr. de Wit. ER doctors who spoke to CTV News, say they’re being pressured to see as many patients as possible, in the quickest time possible. ”Some of the metrics we’re asked to pay attention to is how many patients you see, not how well you see them,” Dr. James Maskalyk, an emergency medicine physician at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital. In May of 2020, Dr. Maskalyk was diagnosed with stage four cancer; after successfully battling the disease, he returned to work with a renewed focus on his colleague’s wellbeing and their ability to deliver quality and compassionate care to patients. “The point of medicine is to show up for the human being in front of you, it’s not to check these boxes and push people through,” Dr. Maskalyk shared. The Wellness Director for the University of Toronto’s emergency medicine division, believes that fundamental change is necessary to improve doctor retention and patient care. “Whatever allows us to spend more time with patients,” he said. How do we solve doctor burnout? A comprehensive framework for redesigning Canada’s emergency care system has already been released by the Association of Emergency Physicians. Dr. de Wit believes that health ministries across Canada need to follow the guidance provided to rework the country’s emergency departments and bring a stop to professionals leaving the speciality. “We have a huge shortage of nurses and physicians in our emergency departments, we’re all working overtime all the time,” says Dr. de Wit. A statement from the office of Ontario’s Minister of Health says that “we need the federal government to step up as a full funding partner by renewing expiring health funding agreements to provide stable, predictable, and flexible long-term funding that supports.” In an email to CTV News, the federal Ministry of Health replied that the “Government of Canada committed $97 million to establish a Foreign Credential Recognition Action Fund to make credential recognition fairer, faster, and more transparent, helping qualified foreign-trained professionals contribute more quickly to Canada’s workforce.” Though doctors surveyed by Dr. de Wit and her team say their years-long plea for support have continuously been ignored by all levels of government. If meaningful steps aren’t taken to address the issues raised, doctors who spoke to CTV News fear that much of the work being done to bolster the number of emergency room physicians across Canada could be squandered.
