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Editorial
Burnout in sports medicine physicians: an American perspective
  1. Elizabeth L Albright1,
  2. Rahul Kapur2,
  3. Emily Miller3
  1. 1 Primary Care Sports Medicine, University of Michigan Health-West, Wyoming, Michigan, USA
  2. 2 Department of Family and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School Twin Cities Campus, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
  3. 3 Family Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Santa Monica, California, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Elizabeth L Albright, Primary Care Sports Medicine, University of Michigan Health-West, Wyoming, MI 49519-9606, USA; ebethalbrite12{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2023-107752

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    Physician burnout is a growing problem within the healthcare system and sports medicine physicians are not exempt. Burnout is a job-related, long-term stress reaction manifesting as emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and feelings of decreased personal achievement which may occur simultaneously with depression.1 Its impact on the healthcare system is not trivial, contributing to decreased patient satisfaction and clinical productivity, and increased occupational/personal distress, medical errors, unprofessional behaviour and physician turnover.2 3

    The authors approach this topic as physicians within the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM). Burnout is not unique to American physicians, thus, some of these principles will apply to sport and exercise medicine clinicians worldwide.4 Despite the emerging priority among healthcare organisations to mitigate burnout, rates are not decreasing. Various strategies for screening and addressing burnout exist, yet significant gaps exist in the current framework when applied to sports medicine. We highlight the need to recognise systemic factors contributing to burnout specific to sports medicine physicians, identify action items to address these factors within the healthcare system and provide resources for affected physicians.

    Burnout within sports medicine

    Sports medicine physicians are experts in non-surgical sports medicine, specialising in medical, musculoskeletal and biopsychosocial issues affecting physically active individuals, including competitive athletes. AMSSM members represent multiple primary specialties (table 1) and provide care across a range of clinical settings, delivering a variety of athlete care, team/event coverage and procedural expertise.5 Burnout affects every medical specialty and annual reports indicate an upward trend in burnout rates within each of the primary …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors All three authors contributed equally (one-third of the content) of this requested editorial. EM was responsible for the description of burnout, description of our field of sports medicine and the demographic table. RK was responsible for the description of factors specific to sports medicine that may contribute to or mitigate burnout. ELA was responsible for recommendations regarding further research, changes in leadership focus and philosophy and resources for those suffering from burnout. Non-author contributors were Dr William O Roberts and Dr James Puffer who served as informal editors to the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.