Med Student Burnout

05 September 2008 in medical education, undergraduate education | No comments

A study recently published in Annals of Internal Medicine explored the relationship between student burnout, quality of life, and thoughts of suicide at several US medical schools. Not surprisingly, their results were not encouraging: half the students reported burnout, and a little more than 5% had considered suicide within the past year. The investigators’ analysis showed that burnout and poor quality of life were independent predictors of suicidal ideation. What’s even worse is that this study is only the latest in a series of alarming reports of poor mental health and quality of life among medical students and residents.

Is this problem intrinsic to medical education, or is it a consequence of poor educational methodology? It’s certainly possible that the American system of educating physicians - first requiring an undergraduate degree, then medical school - exacerbates student burnout by increasing the number of years spent in school, increasing average debt, and increasing the number of exams and application cycles. And the traditional medical school curriculum is, without a doubt, demanding and dry. But what is the alternative? Should we be content with physicians educated less stringently, with less grounding in the basic science underlying clinical decision-making? I don’t have a complete solution, but I don’t think that’s the best approach. Rather than making medical school less demanding, the process of arriving at medical school should be less stressful - beginning with increasing the number of US medical schools and relaxing application standards. We need more physicians, especially primary care physicians, and we need to make the years of education preceding medical school tolerable enough that our best and brightest don’t begin their medical training already on the verge of burnout.

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