Key result
A scoping review of 12 papers demonstrated overall positive benefits of physical activity and exercise interventions on physician wellness and burnout.
Why the study?
Training and practicing physicians experience high rates of burnout, poor job satisfaction, stress, and depression, prompting an evaluation of physical activity interventions to address these issues.
Do physical activity interventions improve well-being and reduce burnout in training and practicing physicians?
Do physical activity interventions improve well-being and reduce burnout in training and practicing physicians?
Physical activity interventions provide positive benefits for physician well-being and burnout, highlighting a need for more robust research in this overburdened population.
Physical activity interventions may benefit physician wellness; leaves open need for larger trials before practice change.
Training and practicing physicians continue to experience burnout, poor job satisfaction / engagement, high stress, and even depression and suicide. With an understanding of effective and ineffective methods to improve wellness, our team aimed to collect publications with data on the effectiveness of physical activity interventions to address burnout and well-being in physicians. Comprehensive searches for articles related to the impact of exercise on physicians' well-being were undertaken in March 2022 in PubMed, PsycINFO, and EMBASE. Of 2496 records identified in the databases, the team screened 1,287 and finalized 12 papers for inclusion and review. This study reviews the overall positive benefits of physical activity and exercise interventions in physicians. Despite the wide-ranging utility of an exercise prescription and despite clear evidence that physicians' personal exercise habits affect their patient counseling about exercise, this review shows that (often overburdened) physicians have insufficient physical activity, and are rarely included in studies targeting exercise. Many of the included studies had small sample sizes, leaving possibilities for future research aiming to augment physician wellness.
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Huecker et al. (2023) conducted a review in Physician burnout and well-being (n=12). Physical activity interventions was evaluated on Burnout and well-being. A scoping review of 12 papers demonstrated overall positive benefits of physical activity and exercise interventions on physician wellness and burnout.
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