The Burnout Knowledge Education Group (KEG) seeks to spread awareness of burnout at a grassroots level among all ICU healthcare professionals, share successful strategies that have been instituted, and ultimately develop standardized interventions using research methodologies to prevent burnout, increase professional fulfillment, and augment the critical care workforce.
Healthcare-associated burnout is a nationally recognized crisis that affects an overwhelming 40% to 50% of the healthcare taskforce, markedly higher than the burnout of the average U.S. worker (approximately 25% to 30%). The critical care workforce is particularly susceptible to burnout because of the inherent nature of their work.
In 2006, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) issued a report to Congress on the supply and demand for critical care physicians. The report concluded that, if current trends continue, the growing supply of intensivists will be insufficient to provide the optimal level of care to future populations through 2020. In 2018, Rotenstein et al in JAMA systematically reviewed 182 studies across 45 countries and analyzed the prevalence of physician burnout, with rates of up to 80% in some countries, emphasizing the impact of burnout on a global scale. In 2019, Pastores et al in Critical Care Medicine delved into the epidemiology and risk factors of burnout among the ICU workforce specifically, noting that prospective analyses of interventions within the ICU setting are currently limited. And in 2016/2020, Sessler at al, on behalf of the Critical Care Societies Collaborative (CCSC) proposed a call for action with an emphasis on the obligation professional societies have to tackle burnout head-on.
Cochairs
Asha N. Shenoi, II, MD, FCCM, Pediatric Intensivist, Kentucky Children’s Hospital
Markita L. Suttle, BS, MD, Pediatric Intensivist, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Jack Green, MD, Pediatric/Congenital Cardiac Intensivist, Cedars Sinai Medical Center