Professional Coaching to Reduce Physician Burnout: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Area of Science:

• Medical research
• Public health
• Psychology

Background:

• Physician burnout is a significant public health issue.
• Individual professional coaching helps, but high costs limit accessibility.
• Small group coaching presents a potentially scalable alternative, but its effectiveness for attending physicians was unproven.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of small group and one-on-one professional coaching on physician burnout.
• To assess improvements in work life, engagement, self-efficacy, and social support.
• To compare the efficacy of small group versus one-on-one coaching interventions.

Main Methods:

• A randomized, three-arm, waitlist-controlled trial involving 79 Internal Medicine faculty physicians.
• Participants received six, one-hour virtual coaching sessions over four months.
• Burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), with secondary outcomes assessed via validated measures.

Main Results:

• Small group coaching led to a 29.6% absolute reduction in burnout; one-on-one coaching resulted in a 13.4% reduction.
• Control group physicians experienced an 11.1% increase in burnout.
• No significant difference in burnout reduction was found between small group and one-on-one coaching arms.

Conclusions:

• Small group professional coaching effectively decreased physician burnout, suggesting a scalable and cost-effective approach.
• While one-on-one coaching showed positive trends, statistical significance was not reached.
• Further research with larger, multi-centered trials is recommended to validate these findings.