Physician Wellbeing Burnout AND Professional Resilience

Meet the patient

Dr R, a thirty-eight-year-old surgical registrar in her final year of training, has come to your room after twelve months of unrelieved night shifts and a recent relationship breakdown. She describes fatigue, irritability with patients, intrusive thoughts about work, and self-medication with alcohol each evening. Last week she made a serious medication error she attributes to exhaustion. She has not slept properly in months, and she dreads Sunday evenings. She is here because a colleague insisted.^[4]

This is the presentation every senior physician will meet. The two questions that decide Dr R's safety are the two that decide every wellbeing case: is this burnout, depression, or something more dangerous — substance use or suicidal ideation? and what are the systemic drivers, and what is my duty of care? The candidate who can defend three positions without hedging passes: burnout is a systemic work-related syndrome, not a personal failing; physician suicide is a public health emergency demanding active screening and removal of barriers to disclosure; and evidence-based programmes reduce burnout and improve patient outcomes.^[4][7]

References8ShowHide

1. [1]Khorsandi J, Mirharooni J, Ahdout J, Kahen J, et al. Caring for Caregivers: System-Level Solutions to Moral Injury in Burn Teams J Burn Care Res, 2026.PMID 42096534
2. [2]Randall SE, Seastedt H, Abazari SM, Aguilar L, et al. Stress and resilience among first-year medical students: a cross-sectional application of the medical student stress scale BMC Med Educ, 2026.PMID 42067863
3. [3]Suslow A, Schlößler K, Chikhradze N, Lauer R, et al. Should I stay or should I go-Medical assistants´ experiences and coping with patient demand and lack of appreciation during the Covid-19 pandemic PLoS One, 2025.PMID 40244992
4. [4]Mehta LS, Elkind MSV, Achenbach S, Pinto FJ, et al. Clinician Well-Being: Addressing Global Needs for Improvements in the Health Care Field A Joint Opinion From the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, European Society of Cardiology, and the World Heart Federation J Am Coll Cardiol, 2021.PMID 34272083
5. [5]Knaak S, Reichert OS, Ameyaw S, Burrell E, et al. Supporting Physician Well-being and Mental Health Clinical Skill Development: Evaluation of Mental Health Skills Groups for Physicians Healthc Manage Forum, 2026.PMID 42400336
6. [6]Shahabi Shahmiri S, Felsenreich DM, Gero D, Ruiz-Úcar E, et al. Beyond the Operating Room: Determinants of Burnout and Resilience among Metabolic Bariatric Surgeons Worldwide Obes Surg, 2026.PMID 41902897
7. [7]Connolly A, Fraga T, Dantas S The ACOG National Well-Being Program: Promoting Physician Well-Being, Advancing Clinical Excellence, and Sustaining a Workforce Obstet Gynecol, 2026.PMID 41855528
8. [8]Kumbamu A, Corliss BB, Starr S, Dick JF 3rd, et al. Cultivating caring practices in US clinical learning environments: a multi-site qualitative exploration of actions, barriers, and strategies Acad Med, 2026.PMID 42421212