Beyond the Maslach burnout inventory: addressing emergency medicine burnout with Maslach's full theory

Abstract

Abstract Burnout, a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job, remains a substantial problem for emergency physicians, leading to decreased quality of care and attrition from the workforce. The majority of prior work on burnout in emergency medicine has focused on individualized solutions, which have demonstrated modest efficacy for ameliorating burnout. However, recent studies suggest that burnout in medicine is primarily caused by workplace factors (eg, unmanageable workloads, unreasonable time pressures) and therefore requires solutions at an organizational level. In her decades of research across industries, Christina Maslach identified 6 domains of organizations that can either promote engagement or lead to burnout. In this article, we apply Maslach's 6 domains to emergency medicine to provide a systematic framework for alleviating burnout and promoting engagement among emergency physicians. By considering the domains of workload, reward, control, fairness, community, and value congruence, emergency medicine leaders can develop and deploy more effective interventions aimed at improving the experience and longevity of physicians across our specialty.

Keywords

• burnout
• Maslach burnout inventory
• moral injury
• physician experience