Burnout in doctors leaves patients' safety at risk

Patient safety is at risk unless the NHS creates the ‘right working environment for GPs’, researchers have found.

The analysis by researchers from the universities of Manchester, Keele and Southampton, yet to be published, reveals that a burnout in doctors results in an increase in medical errors, reduced quality of patient care, and lower patient satisfaction, Pulse Today has reported. It concludes that ‘patient safety could be at risk’ unless the reasons behind burnout are addressed.

The study looked at data from 42 previous studies to examine associations between distress in physicians in the US and three core outcomes of patient safety incidents, poor quality of care and patient satisfaction.

Maria Panagioti, lead author of the study and senior research fellow in health services at primary care at the University of Manchester, warned that the impact of burn out on patient safety and as an organisational problem has not received much attention and more research is needed in these two key areas.

She said: “The message from these findings is clear. If we want to retain safe and professionally competent NHS doctors in the very demanding UK primary care environment, we need to support their mental and physical health by creating the right working environment for them.

“Efforts need to be focused on finding appropriate ways of reaching doctors who work in stressful environments to ensure their wellbeing is taken care of. If we don’t patient safety could be at risk.

“In the UK many GPs have said that excessive work demands and system pressure is the main cause of their prolonged stress.

“Organisation-wide initiatives for fostering communications between members of the health care team, and cultivating a sense of teamwork and job control are likely to be the most effective approaches in reducing burnout.

“The new national GP service is definitely a positive initiative but it is too early to evaluate its potential benefits.”