Healthcare workers have been feeling burned out, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated labor challenges. And now, healthcare executives are feeling burned out, too, according to a recent survey.
The survey conducted by WittKieffer queried 233 healthcare executives about career burnout, which is typically characterized by chronic stress, exhaustion, anger, feelings of inefficacy, hopelessness and moral injury, according to WittKieffer.
A whopping 74% of survey respondents said they have felt burned out in the last six months. Worse, 93% said they feel burnout is having a negative impact on their organization. The responses reflect ongoing economic challenges across the healthcare space, including a labor crunch. Other studies have shown that up to 25% of clinicians want to switch careers, mostly due to burnout.
“The wins are fewer and farther apart than what was possible just a few short years ago. Emotional and physical fatigue are nonstop,” one healthcare exec said in the report. “Healthcare is on the brink of disaster as the workforce dwindles yet community needs rise. And the ability to have a reasonable and healthy margin to continue operations and serve the needs of all is just not sustainable.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on burnout, which was already a widespread issue before 2020. For executives, the pandemic also had burnout impacts, as these leaders scrambled to set up COVID-19 response centers, navigate a complex regulatory environment and deal with supply shortages.
“The pandemic created a sense of doubt that I have had trouble shaking,” one CEO said. “I felt frustrated about my leadership in a world constantly changing. I’ve also developed anxiety through the pandemic. The amount of worry has become overwhelming.”
The pandemic added long hours to executives’ workloads and feelings of uncertainty and fear, all of which could influence symptoms of burnout. Unfortunately, burnout could lead to more CEOs leaving their roles or even switching careers. Other findings back up the role of burnout among healthcare executives––a record number of healthcare CEOs left their roles in the first five months of 2022, though the number of exits has since steadied out.
“Burnout is causing me to consider a career path outside of running hospitals, or a shortened career overall,” said one CEO. “It has been very difficult to segment my professional and personal life in a healthy way.”
Among survey respondents, 39% said they never think about leaving the healthcare industry due to burnout. Another 32% sometimes think about it, 18% said they often think of it and 10% said they always think about leaving.
Burnout also appears to have an impact on optimism, as more executives who identified as not burnout (88%) out said they were hopeful about the future of healthcare leadership compared to executives who are burned out (47%). Additionally, 92% said their organizations could be doing more to reduce and/or prevent executive leadership burnout.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."