Opinion

Wafik S. El-Deiry: I wish the media would stop referring to the greater than 1 million doctors in the US in general as burned out

Wafik S. El-Deiry/foxchase.org

May 12, 2024, 12:07

Wafik S. El-Deiry: I wish the media would stop referring to the greater than 1 million doctors in the US in general as burned out

Wafik S. El-Deiry shared on LinkedIn:

“Fed up, yes; stress, yes; moral injury, yes; burned out, no, not in general.

I wish the media would stop referring to the greater than 1 million doctors in the US in general as burned out. All kinds of doctors face the public every day and don’t appreciate being labeled that way.

Saying doctors in general are burned out is inaccurate, inappropriate, derogatory, defamatory, and unwelcome, so please stop doing it.

The cited article about burnout states ‘Burnout is defined as chronic workplace stress that is not effectively managed.

Moral injury is a particularly important subset of the stressors that contribute to burnout and is caused by being part of a system that conflicts with one’s moral beliefs.’

Wikipedia states ‘The ICD-11 of the World Health Organization (WHO) describes occupational burnout as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been successfully managed, with symptoms characterized by ‘feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.’

It is classified as a mismatch between the challenges of work and a person’s mental and physical resources, but is not recognized by the WHO as a medical condition.’

‘I have to be the face of this broken system’: As hospitals grow ever more corporate, fed-up doctors push back.”

Source: Wafik S. El-Deiry/LinkedIn

Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP, FRSM, is the Associate Dean for Oncologic Sciences at the Warren Alpert Medical School and Director of the Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University and Director of the Joint Program in Cancer Biology at Brown University and affiliated hospitals.

Dr. El-Deiry discovered p21(WAF1) as a p53 target gene, cell cycle inhibitor, and tumor suppressor that explained the mammalian cell stress response.

Dr. El-Deiry made important contributions in cell death signaling and our understanding of the sensitivity of tumors to chemotherapy. El-Deiry has more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and 5 edited books.