COVID-19

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Interdisciplinary Insights on Burnout in Pediatrics in the Time of COVID-19

Chair(s)

• 

  Eliana Perrin, MD MPH

  Professor of Pediatrics and Director, Duke Center for Childhood Obesity Research
  Department of Pediatrics
  Duke University, North Carolina, United States

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a kind of “double whammy” (Saleh, 2020) for pediatricians, of acute problems on top of longstanding chronic stress. Prior to the pandemic, nearly 1 in 2 general pediatricians was already burned out (Shanafelt et al., 2015). Now, pediatricians are having to balance old challenges with new ones, such as widespread office closures and reduced volume, with some clinics facing drops in patient visits by 60% or more (Gold, 2020). They are also contending with constantly changing work protocols, increased isolation and ostracization from colleagues, peers, and friends, role-juggling and competing work-family demands. Furthermore, earlier shortages of PPE, combined with societal demands for heroism have caused some physicians to feel more like martyrs than heroes, requiring them to make difficult decisions about their safety, and that of loved ones. Academic researchers have also contended with a chaning landscape of what studies are allowed to continue vs. be deferred and many academic pediatricians have pivoted their work to answer key questions of the day rather than the ones they worked so hard to write grants to answer. This panel will explore these and other ways that COVID-19 is affecting pediatrician clinician attendings, residents, and researchers' health and wellbeing during the global pandemic. It will combine a range of perspectives from clinician educators, to private practice, to academic pediatrics, to sociology to consider how practicing pediatricians are experiencing the crisis—and what might be done to help improve that experience.

Works cited:

Gold, J. (2020). Pediatric Practices Struggle To Adapt And Survive Amid COVID-19. Retrieved from https://khn.org/news/pediatric-practices-struggle-to-adapt-and-survive-amid-covid-19/

Saleh, M. (2020). A Double Whammy: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Burnout in Medical Professionals. Retrieved from https://leanforward.hms.harvard.edu/2020/04/09/a-double-whammy-the-covid-19-pandemic-and-burnout-in-medical-professionals/

Shanafelt, T. D., Hasan, O., Dyrbye, L. N., Sinsky, C., Satele, D., Sloan, J., & West, C. P. (2015). Changes in Burnout and Satisfaction With Work-Life Balance in Physicians and the General US Working Population Between 2011 and 2014. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 90(12), 1600-1613. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2015.08.023

Presentations:

• 9:00 AM - 9:20 AM US CT

  Banging Pots and Pans for Healthcare Heroes: A Sociologist’s Look at How Heightened Societal Expectations May be Exacerbating Burnout During COVID-19
  

  Presenter: Tania M. Jenkins, PhD – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• 9:20 AM - 9:35 AM US CT

  Rapid Changes in Process and Finding Meaning in the Midst of Crisis: Burnout, Resilience and Adaptation for the Primary Care Pediatrician
  

  Presenter: Jennifer DeCoste-Lopez, MD – Duke University School of Medicine
• 9:35 AM - 9:50 AM US CT

  No Escape: Intersection of Family and Work Stress in a Pandemic
  

  Presenter: Brian Eichner, MD – Duke University School of Medicine
• 9:50 AM - 10:00 AM US CT

  Alone Together: Resident Isolation During COVID-19
  

  Presenter: Betty Staples, MD – Duke University Medical Center
• 10:00 AM - 10:10 AM US CT

  Alone Together: Attending Isolation During COVID-19
  

  Presenter: Elizabeth Erickson, MD – Duke University School of Medicine
• 10:10 AM - 10:30 AM US CT

  All Roads Lead Toward Research, Just Not the Research You Worked Hard to Get Funded, and Other Challenges for the Academic Pediatrician in a Time of Covid-19
  

  Presenter: Eliana M. Perrin, MD MPH – Duke University
• 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM US CT

  Break
  

  Presenter: Belinda Thomas
• 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM US CT

  Click for Live Q&A: Interdisciplinary Insights on Burnout in Pediatrics in the Time of COVID-19
  

  Presenter: Belinda Thomas