Wellness interventions for anesthesiologists

Abstract

Purpose of review: The review examines the different preventive measures that have been found to be useful to abolish or decrease the negative effects of burnout and increase resilience in anesthesiologists.

Recent findings: Studies in anesthesiology cite autonomy, control of the work environment, professional relationships, leadership, and organizational justice as the most important factors in job satisfaction. Factors such as difficulty in balancing personal and professional life, poor attention to wellness, work alcoholism, and genetic factors increase an individual's susceptibility to burnout. Exposure to chronic or repeated stress instigates a spectrum of autonomic, endocrine, immunologic, and behavioral responses that activate the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Investigating the difference in psychobiologic reactivity, as well as defining the psychological symptoms that are characteristic to individuals vulnerable to stress-induced illness, would enable scientists to better look into the modalities to eradicate the negative effects. Recent studies have shown that a combination of individual and structural changes in institutions can increase resilience in physicians.

Summary: Burnout is a pathological syndrome that is triggered by constant levels of high stress. A combination of individual efforts as well as structural interventions can help to increase wellbeing in physicians.