Burnout Across a Female Physician’s Career: Manifestations of Burnout, Appraisal of Current Interventions, and Future Directions

Women in medicine hold a unique role both in their professions and society at large. Recently, there have been great strides in the representation of women in the medical profession. However, regardless of the rise in women entering the field, the socio-cultural phenomenon of burnout unfortunately disproportionately impacts these female physicians. In order to retain female physicians in the workforce and thus guarantee a bright future for the medical profession, it is essential to explore how burnout manifests across a female physician's career, as well as the nature of interventions that address this burnout. As compared to their male colleagues, female physicians are more vulnerable to certain factors which perpetuate burnout, such as lack of leadership opportunities, administrative burden, challenges with work-life integration, and loss of autonomy. This thesis will depict burnout as a cumulative process, manifesting in different ways throughout the stages of a female physician's career, from undergraduate education to their experience in the workforce. Furthermore, this thesis depicts interventions which address burnout at these stages, paired with a thoughtful appraisal of these interventions in an effort to identify strengths, as well as gaps where future research and implementation is necessary.