• Isaac K S Ng, Sarah Z L Tham, Kar Mun Chong, Wilson G W Goh, Christopher Thong, and Kevin Soon Hwee Teo.
• Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119074, Singapore.
• Postgrad Med J. 2024 Dec 16.

AbstractBurnout is a prevalent phenomenon in medicine, affecting >50% of physicians and up to 60% of medical residents. This has negative consequences for both doctors' mental health and job satisfaction as well as patient care quality. While numerous studies have explored the causes, psychological effects, and workplace solutions, we aim to practicalize the issue from the perspectives of residents by discussing three key drivers of burnout and offering actionable, multipronged strategies that may be able to tackle these root causes effectively. From review of relevant literature and personal reflections/experiences, we identified three key factors that contribute to resident burnout, namely, (i) inherent physician attributes, (ii) mismatched expectations of the medical profession, and (iii) stressful nature of clinical work and residency training for junior physicians. We offer practical strategies that can be implemented by various stakeholders in a concerted manner to target these three areas, namely, to inculcate and foster accurate perception of the medical profession at the outset, develop psychological strength/resilience among medical residents, and make practical improvements to working and training environments.© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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