Doctors are not immune to stress

Recent reports suggest that a majority of physicians suffer from moderate to severe emotional exhaustion. Emotional burnout is often caused by a number of different reasons.

- Dr Shafiq A M

National Doctors Day is celebrated on 1st July in India; a day when we remember doctors and are thankful for everything they do for us, as individuals and as a society. However, how often do we realise that they too are human and of late, there have been several incidents of emotional burnout and acute physical exhaustion due to long working hours and an ever-increasing patient load. Emotional burnout is often caused by a number of different reasons including exposure to the emotions of patients and their families, the need to provide the right treatment, feeling of disappointment when treatment modalities do not progress as desired and the feeling of being powerless against certain stubborn diseases.