Dear Burned Out Healthcare Workers: Don't Leave!

Burnout has become the silent epidemic of healthcare. Physicians, nurses, and even medical students are facing unprecedented levels of stress, emotional exhaustion, and job dissatisfaction, leading to a growing burnout crisis. Frontline healthcare workers are leaving the profession in record numbers – not because they’ve lost their passion for healing, but because the system has made sustaining that passion nearly impossible.

Every day, I see colleagues stretched thin by relentless shifts, documentation demands, and the crushing weight of a healthcare system that prizes the bottom line over human lives – both patient and provider. The message we hear is clear: productivity first, people second. Yet, paradoxically, the system cannot survive without the very people it is grinding down.

Our patients cannot survive without us. Burnout among healthcare workers can compromise patient safety, reduce the quality of care, and lead to higher turnover rates, further straining the healthcare system. Addressing the burnout crisis is crucial to ensure the well-being of healthcare workers and maintain a sustainable, high-performing healthcare workforce.

We can’t afford to keep losing good people. Our patients can’t afford it. Our trainees can’t afford it. And the next generation of caregivers are watching closely – deciding whether medicine is a call worth answering.

So what do we do? We fight burnout both personally and professionally, and we advocate not only for ourselves, but also for the students and residents stepping into our shoes.

Fighting Burnout Personally

We can’t always control the system, but we can control how we care for ourselves within it.

• Boundaries that protect energy: Saying “no” is NOT selfish – it’s survival. For too long, medicine has glorified self-sacrifice: the 30-hour call, the skipped meals, the “just push through it” mentality. But boundaries make us better clinicians. That may mean declining extra shifts, limiting after-hours charting, or protecting vacation days as sacred time. By modeling boundaries, we permit younger colleagues to do the same.
• Micro-recovery moments: Burnout doesn’t come only from long hours; it comes from unrelieved stress. Building in small “recovery breaks” throughout the day is essential. A 5-minute mindfulness exercise before opening the EMR, stepping outside for fresh air, or eating a real lunch instead of another granola bar in the hallway – these small practices regulate stress hormones, preserve clarity, and reduce emotional exhaustion. They are not indulgences! They are necessities. 
• Peer Connection and Community: Burnout thrives in isolation. Simply talking with colleagues who understand the grind can be therapeutic. Informal peer check-ins, resident support groups, or departmental “debrief” sessions after difficult cases remind us that we are not alone. The simple act of being seen and heard by another professional can buffer against cynicism and despair.
• Professional Growth and Variety: When every day feels like the same hamster wheel, passion withers. Rekindling curiosity may mean pursuing a niche interest, taking on a quality improvement project, or even learning non-clinical skills like teaching, advocacy, or healthcare leadership. Diversifying our professional identity beyond “RVU-producer” can reawaken meaning and purpose.
• Self-Care Rituals: Take your good advice and make your own health a priority! Engage in activities outside of work that nourish your mind, body, and spirit, such as exercise, meditation, and mindfulness practices, to recharge and manage stress. Healthy coping strategies, such as journaling, deep breathing, and leisure activities, can help prevent burnout.

Professional Strategies

While individual resilience matters, no one should be expected to carry this alone. We need systemic solutions - and that requires collective advocacy.

• Institutional Advocacy: Get involved in wellness committees or staff councils. These forums can be used to push for realistic staffing ratios, protected documentation time, and coverage for parental leave and/or sick days. When institutions measure “productivity”, we must also insist they measure provider well-being. Additionally, fostering a collaborative work environment promotes interdisciplinary teamwork and encourages peer support networks to help healthcare workers feel connected and valued.
• Recognition and Rewards: Implement recognition programs, such as awards, bonuses, or professional growth opportunities, to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of healthcare workers and boost morale.
• Flexible Work Arrangements: Are flexible scheduling options or remote work available? Changing things up can make your workday feel less like the movie “Groundhog Day” and can help healthcare workers manage their workload and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
• Unions and Professional Societies: Organized voices carry weight. Nursing unions have won safer ratios and better working conditions. Medical societies can and must advocate for reforms in documentation requirements, prior authorizations, and reimbursement structures that siphon time away from patients. Joining these groups amplifies our individual frustrations into collective power.
• Normalize Seeking Help: Burnout is not weakness. Yet the stigma around physicians seeking counseling, coaching, and therapy persists. We must change that narrative - starting with ourselves. Imagine if every residency orientation included not just ACLS training, but also a session on mental health resources. Imagine if every hospital credentialing process reassured physicians that seeking therapy would not cost them their license. This culture shift can save lives.
• Mentorship and Protection of Trainees: Medical students and residents are among the most vulnerable to burnout. Crushing debt, endless exams, and long call nights can erode their passion before it even fully blooms. As senior clinicians, we can advocate for reasonable duty hours, humane call schedules, and protected time for learning rather than just service. More importantly, we can model balance and humanity - showing the next generation that it’s possible to practice medicine without losing yourself.

Reclaiming the Passion

So, how do we hold onto the calling that first drew us to medicine?

• Remembering the sacred work: Every patient encounter - no matter how rushed - is still an opportunity to make a difference. Sometimes that’s saving a life. Sometimes it’s simply sitting with a family in grief. When we zoom out from the billing codes and checklists, we find the thread of humanity that brought us here.
• Teaching the next generation: Mentoring a medical student, debriefing with a resident, or giving a nurse a word of encouragement reignites purpose. If the system feels broken, the greatest legacy we can leave is shaping a healthier culture for those who follow.
• Seeing ourselves as patients: We prescribe rest, nutrition, and follow-up care to our patients - but often deny the same to ourselves. We must learn to extend compassion inward. If we collapse under burnout, we cannot be there for our patients, our families, or our profession.

A Call To Action

To healthcare executives, policymakers, and administrators: the workforce shortage you fear will not be solved by recruitment alone. Retention is the real crisis. Invest in people, not just profits. Short-term cost-cutting only accelerates long-term collapse.

To my colleagues: don’t leave! At least, not yet. Stay – for the patients who still need you, for the residents who look up to you, and for the profession that still has the potential to heal more than it harms. But staying doesn’t mean suffering in silence. Staying means raising our voices, setting boundaries, and demanding a culture of care that extends to caregivers too.

The system may care about the bottom line. But we – together – can care about people. And if we care loudly enough, change will follow.