Background:

Recent evidence suggests that clinician burnout exceeds the national average in the Palliative Care workforce. MD Anderson’s Palliative Care service has therefore implemented measures to reduce stress and burnout and support engagement and health, including a 13-item, evidence-based Palliative Clinician Self Care Checklist. To improve the checklist, we conducted a survey to understand clinicians’ perception of the list and its items, and the frequency with which clinicians were able to achieve each item.

Methods:

The survey was administered electronically to Palliative Care medical professionals, including physicians, advanced practice providers, and counsellors. We collected demographic information in addition to survey items. We asked respondents to rate their perception of the usefulness of each of the 13 items, and how often they achieved each item. We also asked participants to rate their satisfaction with their professional life, and to respond to questions related to burnout.

Results:

The response rate to the survey was 32/39 providers contacted (82.0%), including 15 physicians, 10 APPs, and 7 counsellors. Items most often rated as useful or very useful were meeting with friends (93.7%), achieving a personal self-care goal (90.7%), and meeting with family (90.3%). Items least often rated as useful or very useful were visual arts (46.9%), reading literature (59.4%), and art, movies, or theater (65.7%). Items most reported as achieved most weeks or every week were meeting with friends (84.4%), achieving a personalized self-care goal (81%), and avoiding a personal item of maladaptive coping (81%). Visual arts (28.1%), art, movies, or theater (37.6%), and literature (43.8%) were least reported to be achieved most weeks or every week. All respondents reported some degree of satisfaction with their professional life. However, 25% of respondents reported feeling burned out once a week or more.

Conclusions:

While checklist items that respondents achieved least frequently were those that they perceived as least useful, some items perceived as most useful were not achieved as frequently. Future studies will focus on measures to facilitate providers’ ability to practice and access self-care measures.