Physician Burnout Is a System Failure

[00:00] Introduction and Background

“Welcome to the Clinician Core podcast. I’m Dr. Kevin Halow, surgeon, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Clinician Core. As a practicing surgeon for over 27 years, I have been involved in medical staff leadership, medical student and resident education, and have enjoyed a diverse clinical practice in both the military and civilian life. Over the course of my career, I have witnessed firsthand the increasing frustration and dissatisfaction that physicians and clinicians experience with the practice of medicine.”

[00:40] The Current State of Healthcare

“We all know the issues: declining reimbursements, overwhelming administrative burdens, ever-increasing volume of patients, and the pervasive pressure to maintain patient privacy. These are just a few of the issues. I believe a lot of this stems from the fact that the practice of medicine is no longer physician-centric, because physicians do not have a voice. They are so busy in their clinical duties that they cannot even connect with each other, let alone participate in the building and shaping of the modern healthcare space. It seems as though there is no safe space for physicians to connect and engage. This is where the friction starts.”

[01:25] The Burnout Epidemic

“In this podcast, we will be talking about physician burnout, why it’s not a personal failure, and why the system itself has to evolve in order to address and reverse it. Physician burnout is now becoming a common topic in healthcare discussion. It remains a stubborn and dangerous epidemic. Physician burnout rates hover between 43 and 48 percent. Stop and think about that alarming number. Nearly half of the physician workforce is operating in a state of chronic exhaustion. Worse yet, according to Medscape’s Physician Suicide Report 2025, 15 percent of physicians have contemplated suicide. That’s crazy.”

[02:18] A Real-World Example

“True story, this happened to me. A couple of years back, I had an ICU nurse stop me, and she was just so proud. She wanted to tell me about her daughter who had just finished her residency in pediatrics. I asked her where her daughter would be practicing. She paused for a moment and she said her daughter was going to take some time off first because she was burned out. Her daughter, just finishing a pediatric residency, she had not even entered clinical practice, and she’s already burning out. Burnout is real.”

[02:53] The Investment vs. The Result

“There are so many that have tried to address this issue. Ironically, despite wellness programs, mindfulness apps, and even redesigned physician lounges, burnout continues to rise. To put it in perspective, it takes on average 12 to 18 years to fully train a physician. Yet, in spite of all this education and training, nearly 50 percent of our most valuable healthcare assets—the foundation building block of medicine—want to quit. And another 15 percent want to commit suicide to make the stress and insanity stop. When highly trained, deeply committed clinicians across all specialties are exhausted, disengaged, or thinking about leaving medicine altogether, that is not a motivation problem or a resilience problem. That is a system problem.”

[03:52] Reframing the Issue

“Physician burnout isn’t about personal weakness, and the solutions in which we have invested are simply not working. So what in the world is going on? If you are a practicing physician listening to this, none of this is theoretical. You are balancing patient care, documentation, messages, alerts, administrative tasks—often across multiple systems that don’t talk to each other. All while being expected to stay efficient, empathetic, and error-free. So when burnout shows up, the response is often well-intentioned: ‘Hmm, let’s help the clinicians cope better.’ But that framing quietly sends the wrong message. It implies that if you are struggling, it’s because you need to adapt, rather than asking whether the environment itself is broken. That distinction matters.”

[04:48] System Signals vs. Individual Issues

“Burnout is often discussed in personal terms: stress management, work-life balance, self-care. But when burnout becomes widespread and persistent, it stops being an individual issue and starts becoming a system signal. Think about it this way: Burnout is a symptom that you feel because it is real. If one clinician is burned out, we might look at unique drivers for that one physician, such as workload issues or lack of support. But when nearly 50 percent of clinicians are burned out across specialties and across institutions, that is now a sign of a much bigger problem—a sign that points to structural failure.”

[05:30] Cognitive Overload

“What we’re seeing today is not a lack of dedication; it’s cognitive overload. Too many interruptions, too many alerts, too many tools competing for our attention. Burnout emerges when clinicians spend their energy navigating friction instead of practicing medicine. Once again, that is not about resilience. That is about design issues in the system.”

[05:55] Why Current Solutions Fail

“There are lots of proposed solutions to physician burnout. These include things such as wellness initiatives, physician lounges, mindfulness apps, resilience workshops, and others. These efforts are not wrong; they are thoughtful and they show awareness. But unfortunately, they are probably more symbolic. A lounge can give you a moment of quiet, a chance to grab some coffee, a snack, or a meal. But it doesn’t change what happens when you step back into your shift or into the office or back onto the wards. It does not reduce interruptions. It doesn’t streamline communications. And it doesn’t fix broken workflows. Here is the uncomfortable truth: You cannot meditate your way out of a broken system. If the day-to-day environment remains fragmented and reactive, no amount of self-care will make it sustainable.”

[06:50] The ClinicianCore Philosophy

“So what does help? From what clinicians consistently tell us, relief comes from reducing friction: clear communication, fewer unnecessary interruptions, tools that support clinical judgment instead of competing for attention. When clinicians feel informed instead of interrupted, and when teams are aligned instead of reactive, we will see burnout begin to ease. Not because people have changed, but because the system has changed. That is our focus. That is the focus of ClinicianCore.”

[07:25] Closing Thoughts

“Let me leave you with this thought: If we continue treating physician burnout as a personal struggle, we will continue to apply personal solutions, and we will continue to be disappointed by the results. However, if we treat burnout as a system failure—something that we can design against—real progress becomes possible. Physicians and clinicians don’t need to be fixed. The systems around them do.”

[07:55] Outro and Call to Action

“If you found this conversation useful, I invite you to subscribe to the Clinician Core podcast so that you do not miss a future episode. I’ll be back soon with more practical perspectives on challenges clinicians face day to day. In the meantime, if you have questions or topics you’d like me to address in future episodes, you can share those with me at cliniciancore.com/podcast/feedback. You will also find updates there and the option to join our early access list as we prepare to launch the ClinicianCore platform. I’m Dr. Kevin Halow. Thanks for listening.”