'I just felt either I'm going to kill someone or I'm going to end up killing myself'. How does it feel to be burnt out as a practicing UK GP?
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Published on: January 15, 2017
Ishbel Orla Whitehead1, Suzanne Moffatt2, Barbara Hanratty1
1Faculty of Medical Sciences, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Objective:
To explore how it feels to be a burnt out GP in the NHS.
Design:
In depth qualitative interviews with 16 UK GPs with self-declared 'lived experience' of burnout.
Setting:
United Kingdom Primary Care.
Results:
Seven male and nine female GPs described their experiences of burnout to a peer researcher. Themes identified were exhaustion and depersonalisation, mental and physical illness, identity and existential crises, and finally tenacity and resilience. Participants were self-reflective and described distress, shame, stigma, and guilt, including times of suicidal behaviour and isolation due to their burnout.
Conclusions:
Burnout threatens a GP's sense of identity, purpose, and functioning in their lives, and ultimately can be life-threatening. Active listening to GP distress and a system wide approach to managing distress and burnout is urgently required.
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