According to a Mayo Clinic national survey related to 2014, 55% of American doctors suffer from the burn-out syndrome, the worker’s mental and physical collapse, 10% more in just three years. The higher figures concern urologists (63.6%), physiatrists (63.3%) and general practitioners (63%). Women more likely are at risk than their male colleagues, probably for their lower average age.
French specialists agree with them: they still hope that the law proposed by the former Socialist Minister Benoît Hamon last May, aiming to acknowledge burnout as an occupational disease, could be incorporated in the current legislation.
The idea that working too much, together with a significant reduction of rest hours, is bad for health, so much that it could lead specialists to serious mental and physical collapse, is also embraced by Italian white coats: they took to the streets in protest alongside Trade Unions to denounce the non-application of Law 161, which applies the European Directive 2003/88 as for working hours. At the moment, the increase of staff members seems to be the only solution to ensure properly balanced shifts. Therefore, dusting off an old and glorious saying: «Work less, work all … ».