Study Shows Surgical Errors Related to Stress and Burnout Symptoms
Approximately 9 percent of American surgeons have made recent major medical errors, and a majority of them blame these on mental stress and burnout. Those findings come via a Mayo Clinic study, that included researchers from John Hopkins and the American College of Surgeons. Out of the 7905 surgeons who took part in the survey, close to 9 percent or 700 surgeons said that they had made medical errors in the three months before the study.
The study points to how seriously depression, mental stress, burnout, emotional exhaustion and other factors impact a surgeon’s ability to perform his duties safely and responsibly. However, the researchers found no connection between these errors and the number of hours a surgeon worked, his compensation, or his work environment. This means that these errors are not being caused by work pressure and other external factors. Minimizing the impact of these factors would therefore, not decrease the rate of errors.
Medical malpractice lawyers and patient safety advocates will be even more concerned about the fact that these errors continue to haunt surgeons for months after they have occurred. This only increases the kind of strain and emotional exhaustion these surgeons experience, and enhances the risk of making more medical errors.
700 surgeons performing major medical errors in a period of three months is no small matter. As a New Jersey medical malpractice lawyer, I am concerned about how little we are focusing on treating surgeon burnout to prevent medical errors, and the scant space this issue has in the ongoing healthcare reform debate.
