EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION BURNOUT AMONG PHYSICIANS DEMANDS FOR WELL-BEING INTERVENTIONS

Abstract

This issue features the third set of articles in the volume on work–life balance and burnout. It focuses on burnout among physicians and an intervention pursuing well-being by which to prevent or recover from burnout. Burnout among physicians is addressed from perspectives from the United Kingdom (UK), Nordic countries, Japan and Germany [4]. Different from the focus on burnout among physicians in these four articles, another article [7] focuses on interventions that pursue well-being by which one may prevent or recover from burnout.
Burnout is a global problem adversely affecting physicians and patient care. In the UK, the first article shows, burnout among about a third of physician puts their national health service at risk. Burnout is linked to working conditions leading to emotional exhaustion and impediments to a good work–life balance. Working conditions brought about by regulatory changes in Japan and Germany feature respectively in the third and fifth articles. The fourth article drawing on Nordic studies underscores the person-centered point that burnout among physicians is adversely affecting the very foundation of the physician’s work, that is, the relationship with the patient. This issue, furthermore, features an article on the quantitative effects that well-being interventions had on the personality and health of a sample of refugees living in Sweden.