Background:

There is a growing concern about high frequency of burn out (BO) among physicians, and higher among palliative care providers, reported to be in the range of 62%. There are very limited studies done among Palliative Care (PC) physicians.

Objective:

The main objective of our study was to determine the frequency of burnout among PC physicians participating in PC Continuing Medical Education (CME). Secondary objectives included determining characteristics of physicians who expressed higher BO and also to determine overall attitudes towards PC practice

Methods:

During 2018 Annual Hospice & Palliative Medicine Board Review Course, we conducted a survey of 41 questions to determine the frequency of BO among physicians. This included Maslach Burn Inventory ( MBI )–General. The survey was given to both the in house and webinar participants.

Results:

Of 110 physicians who were given the surveys, 91/110 (83%) completed surveys. The median age was 48 years with 59 (65%) being females, 74 (81%) married. Majority, 41 (46%) were in community practice. 24 (38%) were in practice for more than 6 years, and 52 (57%) were board certified. 56 (62%) practiced PC for more than 50 % of time. Majority, 69 (76%) were doing clinical work. The median number of physician in the group practice was 3. 35 (38 %) of participants reported at least one symptom burnout based on MBI criteria. Only being single/separated correlated significantly with burn-out (p = 0.056). PC work is appreciated at their place of work by 73 (80%), 58 (64%) reported insurance was a burden, electronic medical record as a burden by 58 (64%), and 82 (90%) of physicians felt optimistic about continuing PC in future.

Conclusions:

BO among palliative care physicians who attended a board review course tends to be high, but lower than previously reported. Physicians who choose to attend CME may have unique motivating characteristics to cope better with stress and BO. More research is needed to better characterize BO among PC physicians.