Skip to main content
There is little doubt that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted stress and burnout levels among the healthcare workforce, including primary care practice teams. Even prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, burnout among primary care providers was a serious concern.1 Although COVID-19 initially caused a large amount of acute stress, swift practice changes and collaboration among team members contributed to increased camaraderie during the early stages of the pandemic. Unfortunately, as Dr. Kelly and colleagues discuss, the COVID-19 pandemic has now become a long-term stressor which could ultimately lead to widespread systemic primary care burnout.
As showcased in Dr. Kelly’s study, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in swift changes in clinical care and altered our understanding as to how to best support the primary care workforce. As I continued to ponder your study findings, I wondered if differences in stress and burnout risk would emerge across factors such as geographical location, private or public practice settings and/or years of individual clinical experience? For instance, given that COVID-19 infection and vaccination rates varied substantially across rural versus urban areas in the US, can we assume that primary care practice team members experienced different levels of stress and burnout related to geographic location? Additionally, I am curious if the authors believe that there is a threshold of support in relation to stress management and burnout. Thank you for writing such an informative piece of great relevance to both present and future US primary care delivery.
Reference
1. Eden AR, Jabbarpour Y, Morgan ZJ, Dai M, Coffman M, Bazemore A. Gender differences in personal and organizational mechanisms to address burnout among family physicians. J Am Board Fam Med. 2020;33(3):446-451. 10.3122/jabfm.2020.03.190344