Burnout In Medical School

What is burnout?

Burnout is caused when you overwork yourself for prolonged periods of time, which can lead to exhaustion, heightened anxiety and irritability.

While using all of your available time to do university work or revision may seem really productive, in the long run it can damage your productivity. During the pandemic, it’s been easy to sit at home and just work because you have nothing else to do, with a lack of routine. This can lead to sleeplessness, confusion, anger issues, depression and weight gain.

Burnout is common in medical students, especially as exam season is coming up. Lots of you may be pushing yourself to your very limits, focused on getting your exams out of the way. “It’s only a few more weeks”, you tell yourself.

But creating a routine to help you avoid this high pressure working can actually leave you feeling happier and less stressed.

Going into exam season at the end of your tether, tired and irritable is not how you are going to perform your best. Instead, planning and spacing out your revision, not cramming at the last minute, and enriching yourself with activities you enjoy will lead you to having a less stressful exam season.

Burnout can lead to a wealth of problems, most of which are the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. It can lead to reduced creativity, poor performance, a lack of self confidence, and physical symptoms such as headaches and stomachaches.

These feelings can impact on your relationships with your friends and family and how you interact with your patients.

It’s really important to try and avoid burnout, not just for our professional and educational development, but for our mental health as well. Most medical students will experience burnout at some point in their medical school career, and that is completely normal. The best thing you can do is avoid getting burned out altogether, but it’s just as vital that once you are in a period of burnout, you know how to deal with it and have resources on hand to help yourself. Here are some ways of avoiding and coping with burnout:

1. Allocate yourself work and rest days

The best way to avoid burnout is by setting yourself a realistic plan of what you want to get done each day, and giving yourself regular breaks away from your work. This way, your working will feel more structured and sustainable. It will also help alleviate any anxiety over when you need to get tasks done if you’ve planned all of this out in advance. Visit https://getrevising.co.uk/planner to start your own planner.

2. Talk to other people on your course

Talking to other people who are in the same boat as you can be a really useful way of expressing any worries you may have, and most of the time finding that other people are struggling with the same things that you are. Group study sessions are a great way to do work, while also getting out and seeing people, to avoid being stuck in your room all day.

3. Eat, Sleep, and Drink

Make sure that you’re getting enough sleep, and not constantly pulling all nighters. This will only make you feel worse in the long run and will damage your productivity. You should also be making sure that you’re drinking enough water to keep you hydrated and prevent headaches as well as making you feel more focused. Try as best you can to eat a balanced diet and to be eating enough each day. Skipping meals will make you tired and agitated.

4. Tell People How You’re Feeling

If you are in a period of burnout, don’t feel guilty about pushing back non-urgent matters to take some time for your mental health. Don't be afraid to say “I’m burned out with work right now, can we push it back?”. Don’t feel the need to take on additional responsibilities. Most people will be understanding and will then know to ease up on the pressure that they put on you.

Burnout is a completely normal thing that is extremely prevalent in medical school. The best way to avoid burnout is to speak to your peers and create a sustainable routine.

Having a life outside of medical school is a priority, even if that means occasionally putting your studies aside in order to have some you time.

As always, if you want to share any of your experiences at medical school with us, email us at welfarehub.nottsmed@gmail.com. If you’re struggling with any other issues, have a look at our website to find some resources that may help you.