Are we missing a quality indicator for physicians wellness?

A recent review in Lancet reminds us that a working health-care system is directly linked to the well-being of its practitioners. What might seem rather intuitive on first glance reveals a rather unpleasant truth. Most health-care systems couldn’t care less about physicians wellness. The review covers in detail the risks associated with fatigued, overworked or stressed physicians trying to cope with superhuman workloads. The persistence of this problem is widely known (and not exclusive to American health-care) and if we are unable to improve this conditions, we should at least keep an eye on the consequences. A first step could be the mentioned “quality of work competence survey” and linking the physicians own perception of well-being with observed efficiency and risk of medical errors. Since we are aware of the potential consequences of unwell physicians I agree that health-care systems could benefit from actually paying attention to it.