A survey of nearly 100,000 physicians across the US found that doctors who worked long hours were more like suffer from burnout, depression, lowered satisfaction and increased conflicts at home, especially when their significant other also worked a full-time job.
Dr. Liselotte N. Dyrbye, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said that the added stress of long work hours often results in arguments and disagreements at home.
“Work-home conflicts are common in physicians and in the partners of physicians,” said Drybye. “These work-home conflicts are very important and have serious ramifications.”
Studying Conflict
In order to provide enough information to be useful in the study, physicians needed to:
- Fill out the survey;
- Provide contact information for their significant other; and
- Have their significant other complete a separate survey.
Nearly 100,000 physicians received surveys, and 891 of them fulfilled all aspects. The median age for physicians and their significant other was 55 years and 51 years, respectively. Nearly 90 percent of respondents had children in their family, and roughly three quarters of the physician respondents were male with a female significant other.
Results
The study revealed some concerning trends about how increased work hours affect a person’s family life, including:
- 44.3 percent of physicians and 55.7 percent of partners said they experienced a work-home conflict within the last three weeks.
- Nearly three times as many physicians said they resolved work conflicts before addressing home conflicts. Partners of physicians chose to resolve home conflicts before work conflicts.
- For every 10 extra hours a week a physician worked, the odds of a work-home conflict increase 31 percent for physicians, and 23 percent by partners.
- Doctors who experienced an elevated amount of work-home conflicts were more likely to suffer from burnout, depression, and poor quality of life.
- Physicians who experienced work-home conflicts were 47.1 percent more likely to suffer from burnout, compared to 26.6 percent for physicians without work-home conflicts. Results were similar for a physician’s partner.
- Physicians and their partners who dealt with regular work-home conflicts were more likely to be considering divorce or separation.
Dr. Drybye said she hopes her research helps physicians open their eyes to the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between work and family.
“We hope that our research draws attention to the fact that with more and more dual career relationships, work-home conflicts are something that managers and leaders of organizations need to be aware of and find solutions for, that it’s not just an individual problem, and it can’t just be up to the working spouse to try to figure it out,” Drybye said. “I hope that people can look closely at their policies and the opportunities for dual-career professionals to thrive within the organization.”
Dr. Silverman comments
The great doctor dilemma: How do you balance your life?
I am not the person to answer this question: I know I work too hard. As a surgeon with a busy practice, 60 hours a week is usually the minimum. Yet we keep hearing all the stories about how long it takes to get in and see a doctor, and how little time the doctor spends with their patients.
If all doctors followed the 55-60 hour work week, CAN YOU IMAGINE THE PATIENT BACKLOG that would result? We would look worse than Canada (with all due respect to my dear colleagues up north, I have friends up there who have waiting lists of 1,500 patients). That is more than a one-year wait to see a doctor! Many people in Canada don’t have a family doctor. They can’t get into the clinic until someone else dies and opens up room.
The next few years are going to truly be challenging. The effects of the Affordable Healthcare Act are unpredictable. 30+ million more people will be added to the system, but there will be little increase in doctors. Therefore, what must happen? If you increase demand without increasing supply, the price must go up. But, medicine is an artificial product with external price controls and doesn’t act like other areas of business. Price controls enforced by government and insurance hold steady, and related costs will decrease their reimbursement over time. If the cost doesn’t go up, then the only possible option is for the wait time to increase.
Bottom line: Its going to be a long line.
Related sources: Medscape, General Internal Medicine