When physicians experience high stress and career burnout, it has obvious negative effects on the physicians themselves, like high rates of depression and suicide. But it is also a greater public health concern, according to a Wall Street Journal blog post.
The piece, penned by Carol Cassella, MD, points out that physician burnout is a public health concern, as burnout is associated with medical errors and physicians dropping out of the already stretched-thin workforce.
Framing physician burnout as a public health concern, she notes the public can help stymie its effects by ending the stigma attached to asking for help.
"When the pedestal of [physician's] mental health crumbles, we may need even more support, including the public encouragement to ask for it," she writes.
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