By Andrew J. Sauer, MD

As posted on DoctorsOnSocialMedia.com. . . .

Burnout. We need to stop calling it burnout.

Actually, it’s moral injury.

It’s what happens to people on the front lines of clinical care who are forced to witness human suffering while feeling powerless and unable to do enough about it. 500,000 deaths from COVID alone and countless excess non-COVID deaths in America due to inadequate access to cardiac care. Watching patients suffer and die during the pandemic. Watching patients die and suffer alone. Watching patients experience complications of delayed care or minimized access to care due to the lack of capacity by hospitals overrun with COVID this past year.

Are we surprised? It’s not burnout.

It is a moral injury. It is a silent trauma. We need to be talking about it. Or we will lose more doctors to resignation, emotional detachment, or even suicide, which is a legitimate, under-appreciated epidemic among frontline caregivers.

Please read, appreciate, and share this story.

Check out Dr. Sauer’s profile on www.doctorsonsocialmedia.com