There are a variety of workplace situations that can cause and/or exacerbate stress. While this can obviously occur when someone’s job is stressful by nature, such as emergency room physicians and their support systems, it can also occur when employees only experience stressful situations on occasion. At some point, however, an individual may realize that they are experiencing job burnout and are experiencing emotionally drained symptoms such as severe exhaustion.

Given the stress associated with working in hospitals and other facilities that provide medical care, it is not uncommon for these professionals to experience burnout on a regular basis. Emergency room physicians in particular suffer from this more often than other types of medical professionals, according to a Medscpape Physician Lifestyle Survey. This report, which was published in January 2017, found that emergency room doctors have the highest rate of burnout given the 59% that responded accordingly.

While the overall burnout rate among physicians is currently, 35.2%, physicians 35 and younger claim to experience burnout at a rate of 44%. This may relate, in part, to their recent completion of medical school, workplace competition, residency requirements, and so forth. Due to these and other relevant factors, such as work-life balance, a recent study found that 45.8% of physicians exhibit at least one of the signs of job burnout.

There are, of course, a variety of burnout symptoms that may manifest among physicians and other types of medical personnel. These include, but are not limited to, absenteeism, physical exhaustion, workplace anger, and higher divorce rates. It’s interesting to note that 55% of female physicians reported they were burned out. By way of comparison, male physicians rated themselves at 45% on the burnout scale.

While this pertains to United States employees in general, one million individuals are absent every day due to workplace stress. When considering that there is a growing demand for more, rather than fewer, doctors and related medical personnel, it’s essential to recognize emotionally drained symptoms and other indicators of job burnout. Furthermore, it is also essential to acknowledge that this is a serious issue. When proactive methods are developed and implemented to assist vital medical personnel with reducing their stress, they will have a greater opportunity to perform their jobs optimally.