Vacations Are Necessary Medicine, Especially for Health Care Providers: Study

What’s the key to preventing burnout at work? For professionals in the medical field, taking a vacation could be the key. A new cross-sectional study published in JAMA Network Open indicates that doctor burnout can be prevented or reduced by supporting physician vacation time and reducing patient-care-related tasks during vacation time. In other words, when a doctor is on vacation, they need to be fully on vacation. “Occupational burnout among physicians is a serious threat to patient and physician well-being and health system goals and has been associated with higher rates of medical errors, longer hospital stays, greater mortality rates, lower rates of patient satisfaction, reduction in work hours, turnover, excess health care costs, and physical and mental health issues for physicians,” the research team wrote....