Previous research suggests that a greater capacity of health care organizations to address patients’ health-related social needs is associated with lower physician burnout. However, individual physician-level engagement has not been fully characterized, and its association with physician burnout remains understudied. To understand the relationship between physician engagement and burnout, Masami Tabata-Kelly, a PhD candidate in the health concentration at Heller, conducted a cross-sectional study, the results of which were published in JAMA Network Open in December 2024.
“Given the well-documented high prevalence of burnout among physicians due to high demands and ongoing workforce shortages, understanding how engagement in addressing health-related social needs impacts physicians’ well-being is critical,” says Tabata-Kelly, who conducted the study with her dissertation committee members, including Jennifer Perloff, PhD’06, co-leader of the PhD health concentration and Director of the Institute on Healthcare Systems, and William Crown, Distinguished Scientist at Heller, along with external committee members and collaborators from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
The study, conducted from May to November 2022, measured a diverse array of physician workforce characteristics using a cohort of 5,447 physicians. Tabata-Kelly et al. asked participants to quantify how often they spent time helping their patients meet social needs over the previous 12 months. The results indicated variability in engagement levels among physicians, revealing that nearly 35% of physicians in the U.S. regularly address patients’ social needs. The data also indicated that physicians who work the hardest to meet the needs of their vulnerable patients are more susceptible to burnout. “I hope the evidence from this research inspires efforts to build a health care system that fosters inter- and cross-sector collaboration and better supports physicians in engaging in this meaningful work in a way that is fulfilling rather than exhausting,” says Tabata-Kelly.
Since its publication, the study has been covered in Healio, MedCentral, Medical Economics, Pharmaceutical Commerce, and invited commentary in JAMA.
Tabata-Kelly’s recent research includes “Nurse-Led Serious Illness Conversations Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights From Nurses and Equity Perspectives,” which she presented at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in Baltimore in June 2024. Her paper received the Top Scoring Abstract Award from AcademyHealth’s Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues in recognition of outstanding health services research relevant to nursing practice, workforce, and education.