Why Are Doctors Miserable? | The BURNOUT Epidemic

Burnout among medical students and resident physicians is at an all time high. In this video we'll cover the science of burnout, how to prevent, how to treat, and what you can do about it.

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Disclaimer: Content of this video is my opinion and does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for general educational purposes only. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Kevin Jubbal, M.D. and Med School Insiders LLC will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of information contained in this video including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death.

#suicide #burnout

[colin]

My uncle, who was a very successful optometrist, told me that the single biggest thing to prevent/alleviate burnout is to have a hobby you are EXTREMELY passionate about outside of medicine. Meaning something you do almost every day (even if you work 100 hours a week), or something arduous. For example, my uncle ran a business flying private jets. His best friend was a near professional level musician. It’s not just playing tennis once a week, it’s playing four times a week and training for it.

I’m only a med student so I’m not as busy as many residents but I devote A LOT of time to my individual hobbies. Discipline is so important even when you’re having fun

[studypickle]

I’m not even a med student but these videos are always insightful. I’m also worried for my cousin who is currently studying for her MCAT. I always ask her to hang out whenever she’s free bc I know she has lost a lot of friends putting school and extra curriculars first.

[pokynuju]

Interesting thought. You note that women seek professional help for burnout more then men (31% vs 24%) could this discrepancy be a factor is why burnout is more reported in women. In other words, could the rates of burnout between the genders actually be closer but women report it more than men?

[dimitrijejovanovic]

I am a gamer and medical student at the same time. I highly value my free time, because when I can dedicate some of my time towards things I love (video games, books, and movies), I can perform at my best. In two short years, I will become a doctor, and oh boy, I am in for a lot of pain. Hospitals in Serbia are undermanned and underequipped, and complaining about depression and burnout is here considered as weakness. There are a lot of my colleagues (myself included) and professional doctors being burned out. Some of them even left practicing medicine in order to prevent suicide. Something has to be done. Increasing salaries and the supply of doctors can be costly, but hey, doctors are the ones who hold many lives in their hands, and should be treated as such!

[stealthyink]

Med schools administrators must be saying "Nothing a mandatory wellness lecture can't fix"

[zzqvlzh]

As a med student, I like to distract myself from all the stress by drawing, petting my cats and taking care of my plants. It helps me cope.

[ianchiquier]

It's awesome how even with almost half a million subscribers you're still very active with responding to individual comments in the comments section.

[VyvienneEaux]

I realized just now that I've been binge-watching your videos to torment myself over having burned out. Bad family history, a ridiculously long list of medical problems, and the resulting mental health problems have caused my GPA to suffer. Last semester I got straight As again like I used to but I'll never get it to 3.6 even if I get max grades in everything until graduation. I feel like my failure is my fault, but I suppose I didn't ask my parents to psychologically and physically torture me ever since I can remember. I also didn't ask my body to develop autoimmune hepatitis and the mysterious pain, fatigue, and 'brain fog' that came with it. Watching Med School Insiders, I realized that a past I couldn't control really will be held against me to the fullest extent. The system really is as callous and bureaucratic as I had suspected.

Ever since I was a child, I have known suffering. It has been my highest ambition to decrease suffering in others by becoming a physician, even if I have to sacrifice what remains of my health in the process. Doctors have been of little help to me, usually catching things based on blood tests I explicitly ask for. I'm a hard case, presenting with no acute symptoms most of the time, so they prefer to dismiss me. I want to be the physician who makes all the difference in someone like me and helps them live the life of someone who is not prematurely old.


Surely pushing medical students to the point of suicide by holding them accountable to perfection is antithetical to the goal of producing caring physicians.

[stevenmendezstevenmendez]

That's so sad and we need medical doctors, i will learn on how to appreciate my doctor

[Zetsuke]

I am burnt out and this video helps a lot! Thank you so much for this.

[nicolehessabi]

Registered Nursing students suffer from serious burn out too! Thanks for the video. 🙂

[LegoSwordViedos]

I was in college as an engeneering major, and mostly watched this channel for the study tips that were more universaly applicable and I could use in my study. Though in the end I got hit by burn out in a major way, I began to feel like what I was doing wasn't going to pay off, I wasn't good enough, I had gone through high school eisily without having to spend much time on study etc, and wasn't well adapted to the loss of free time for one thing and that was largly what I had needed in the past to stay functioning. I also wasn't attractive at all to girls and no matter how much I tried to push the issue out of my mind I just couldn't get away from it, I had never been in a relationship, and just wasn't good enough do deserve to be loved by anyone, and had trouble making friends and what friendships I had wern't much worth it. I had always been rather lonely but largely like I said with my free time I could keep the worst of it at bay, but couple that with not being effective at studying, not being good at remembering what I needed to learn and just in general not doing well with such huge tests with no steady class work or grades to balance poor tests, or prepare. Also I grew up very poor and was poor in college as well all of this causing more stress. And yeah being so... so lonely... trying to improve myself is just so pointless when you know you're not good enough for anyone and anything you try to do doesn't change anything. Plus my family wasn't terribly supportive, and I felt like I had to be doing more for them. And in the end the stress was just to much and I learned I just wasn't good enough, or smart enough to be and engineer. Then I spiraled into a huge depression and then instead of just failing calc II I began to fail all my classes and eventually just locked myself in my room for over a week, no one even noticed or cared and I just thought all that time about suicide. failing my classes also meant I lost all scolarship and grant money. So I would no longer be able to even afford college. even two years after the event just steping foot in the city where my old college was at I began throwing up just from the anxiety of being in proximity to the college. I latter got a job trying to just get my life in order they ended up over working me, paying me very little. and in the end crippled my leg, and now I'm in constant pain. And nothing can be done about it. I can't get work, no charity, no help of any sort other then having a place to stay with my mother, eating sparingly as can't afford much food, and I can't exercise because of the pain, and the medical bills ruined my life and credit, and took all the money I had saved working that crappy job that got me disabled. So now I guess there isn't much else I can do but try to ride things out one day at a time or till it becomes to unbearable and just kill myself. My life is basicly over but among many other things it's basically because of burn out. My life is now irreparably ruined by it. All I can say is do you're best to avoid it. don't end up like me.

[christianrupprechter]

2:15
Deprived of sleep, high workload, low salaries and several responsibilities
Man, you're making me doubt my decision to start Medical school this year.

[Zackar]

As OBGYN resident, i aware of this. I have to performed avarage 50 operations per weeks. 50% of operations is emergency, so my sleep and free time is so limited. My phone ringer tone in the midnight is like a nightmare.

[MariA-ufiz]

Burnout isn’t necessarily physical exhaustion. Burnout is when you become bored and dispassionate with everything around you.

Think of the times you were motivated and productive : you were probably working a lot more that you were at the time of burnout.

Burnout comes when you lose faith in what you’re doing, you become disillusioned and bitter and resentful. You feel exhausted just thinking about everything you have to do. Why ?
You are probably putting in hours of hard work, but aren’t seeing clear benefits/results. Personally, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor because of the type of people doctors were : smart, hard working, productive, empathetic. They were everything I wanted to be. I didn’t mind studying and putting in the effort to be productive and efficient, because all my actions were vouching for this identity, and that was tremendously exciting.

Then reality came crashing down. I realized most doctors around me were awful : anti-social, narcissistic, sleep-deprived, too absorbed in their own self- improvement to be genuinely empathetic.

I was unlucky, maybe doctors aren’t like this in other parts of the world. THIS wasn’t who I wanted to become. So I started slacking off. I was top of my class for so long, so this came as a shock for me. But they disgusted me, all I could think of when studying was the type of person I was going to become. I was sacrificing so much and for what? To become something I didn’t believe in.

If you are burned out, you are probably putting in more than you are getting. If the reward seems worth it, trust me when I say you won’t even notice when you work your ass off.
When you are burned out, turning to your family for support isn’t exactly going to help because they couldn’t possibly understand what you’re going through (unless you have doctors in your family).

Females experience more burnout than males because there is more pressure on women to excel at different things. Trying to remain at the top of your field, being socially and emotionally available when your family/friends need you, the stress of being attractive enough to get married before it’s too late to get children (men don’t have to visually look good to attract women *sigh*), raising said children, cleaning and cooking and working hard in the hospital and more.... All this and men still get better pay and more respect. Sounds superficial, but if we women could just brush these things off and ignore all the expectations that come with our sex, trust me, we gladly would. We end up being stuck between family and friends that find us “too studious, not feminine enough, not socially engaged enough” and medical peers that find us “not focused enough, not career driven enough, not ambitious enough”. Yeah, you try juggling 5 thousand things at once.

I can’t believe females being more burned out than males comes as a surprise. Really shows how self-absorbed some men really are.
If being a doctor is difficult, then being a female doctor is even more challenging. A woman CAN choose to exclusively focus on her career...which leads to loneliness, and back to disillusionment (no one wants to spend the rest of their lives with a woman who won’t be available to raise kids herself, but somehow a man who works hard at his job and is absent is just trying to earn money for his family. You know, because women can’t be possibly doing that as well.) Many women put off surgery not for a lack of qualification, but because the hectic lifestyle it demands can’t mesh with outside responsibilities and expectations.

There comes a time when you ask yourself : is it worth all the sacrifice? Working in a world driven by narcissistic men who have less responsibilities and get more respect than you do?

That, my friends, leads to burnout.

[daria]

Yes this issue has seriously been bothering me. Its ridiculous that their isn't much attention being given to this important issue thank you for being part of the solution!!

[jennywrenn]

Juggling a full time job (which I can't wait to leave), school/ prepping for grad school & taking care of my family(furbabies) is challenging. School is actually my relaxation & hope. I think working in a job one hates can suck the life out of you, but also gives me a reminder to work hard for something better. I appreciate these videos, this channel helps me focus on what is important & gives encouragement.

[daoudhiboussi]

Whats done is done ... quitting medical school is important for me to recover my mental and physical health, 4 years of sever depression ended up with losing my mental capacities, i have no memory left no concentration and i weight 60 kg for 1, 86 cm tall . MED SCHOOL IS HELL

[tanyatejeda]

Thank you for addressing these kinds of issues rarely talked about and frowned upon when mentioned ❤️

[initialize]

Thanks for the vids fam! I found out 2 days ago I’ve been accepted into med school! ☺️