Canadian emergency doctors leaving 'broken' industry, citing burnout: CMAJ

A significant exodus of emergency room doctors is plaguing Canada's healthcare system, with one in ten physicians reportedly leaving the profession. A study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) reveals that many emergency doctors feel the industry is "broken" and beyond recovery, citing "hopelessness" about its future.

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Respondents pointed to a broken health care system, unrealistic societal expectations, and insurmountable workplace challenges as reasons for burnout. The consequences were physician distress and leaving the profession.

The study highlights a "broken health care system, unrealistic societal expectations, and insurmountable workplace challenges" as the main drivers of burnout among these critical medical professionals. The consequences are severe, leading to physician distress and a mass departure from emergency medicine.

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They felt that the systems that they were working in were unable to change.

Of the 410 doctors surveyed, 41 have left emergency medicine. Twenty-five have transitioned to different medical specialties, 10 have retired, and six have exited clinical practice entirely. Among the remaining doctors, a staggering 46 percent reported high levels of emotional exhaustion, and 55 percent experienced depersonalization, a detachment from their work or environment.

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I would rate them [emergency departments] in a situation that sometimes we can feel is like a crisis.

Dr. Catherine Varner, an emergency physician and deputy editor at CMAJ, expressed deep concern, noting that doctors feel unable to provide adequate care and lack the agency to enact change within the system. Younger and female physicians are experiencing higher rates of burnout, a trend that poses a serious threat to the future workforce. "When we don’t have the number of people coming into the field matching the number of people leaving the field, that’s when you [have] the emergency department closures and shifts being unable to be filled," Varner stated.

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If emergency physicians are leaving at the start of their profession, then we lose their entire career of working in the emergency department.