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News > Medscape Medical News > Conference News > ESMO 2023

'Why Did I Choose This?' Tackling Burnout

in Oncology
Liam Davenport
October 24, 2023

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In response to this chronic and growing problem, ESMO launched its

Resilience Task Force in 2020 to evaluate burnout and well-being. The task
force plans to publish a position paper in which it will propose a set of
recommendations regarding the psychosocial risks of burnout as well as
flexible work patterns, well-being resources, and targeted support. Recommendations
'Professional Grief' Is a Daily
A panel of experts at the meeting touched on some of these solutions. Reality for Oncologists

Dealing with staff shortages is a must, said Jean-Yves Blay, MD, PhD, during
the session. "It's a simple mathematical equation," Blay said. "We must increase 'I Cry but No One Cares':
Physician Burnout &
the number of doctors in medical schools and the number of nurses and Depression Report 2023
healthcare professionals in all schools." Improving staffing would also help
reduce chronic workload issues.

Resilience training should also be incorporated into physician training starting

in medical school.Teaching oncologists how to deal with bad news and to cope
when patients die is particularly important.

"I was not taught that," said the oncologist from Portugal. "I had to learn that at
my own cost."

The good news is that it's possible todevelop resiliency skills over time, said
Claire Hardy, PhD, from Lancaster University, UK, who agreed that training
programs could be one approach to improve oncologists' work life.

However, a person's needs are determined by their institution and personal

responsibilities. "No one knows your job better than you," Hardy said. "No one
knows better than you where the inefficiencies are, where the bureaucracy is
that could be taken away, or it could be done by somebody whose role it is to
sort all that out."

But having this understanding is not enough. Physician also need to feel
"psychological safety to be able to speak out and say that something isn't
working right now or is too much," or, "I'm spending too much time doing this."

In other words, oncologists need to be able to set boundaries and say no.

Hardy said this concept "has been around a while, but it's really gaining
momentum," and being able to discuss these issues in a forum such as the
ESMO Congress is a promising start.

Lim has relationships with Janseen and SEOM. No other relevant financial
relationships were disclosed.
European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Meeting 2023:
Presented October 22, 2023.

For more from Medscape Oncology, join us on X and Facebook.

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Cite this: 'Why Did I Choose This?' Tackling Burnout in Oncology - Medscape - Oct 24, 2023.

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