Burnout is everywhere in healthcare. 

Clinicians are working longer shifts, navigating more bureaucracy, and facing higher patient demands than ever before. We often describe burnout in terms of fatigue and exhaustion. As if the solution were simply more sleep or more time off. But I find that the truth is more complicated.

At its core, burnout is about being disconnected.

When I talk with colleagues who are struggling, they rarely describe the long hours. What they describe is the loss of meaning. They tell me they no longer have time to connect with patients. They feel reduced to ticking boxes and meeting quotas. The very purpose that drew them into medicine, to help, to heal, to connect feels out of reach. And that disconnection is what makes the exhaustion unbearable.

This means that solutions to burnout cannot be limited to rest breaks or wellness programs, though those have their place. What’s needed is a rethinking of how we structure work.

Clinicians need environments where purpose is restored and they can practice at the top of their training. They need systems that encourage connection with colleagues, patients, and the meaning behind the work.

Reframing burnout in this way shifts the responsibility from the individual to the system. Burnout is not a sign that someone is weak or incapable. It’s a sign that the system has stripped away too much meaning, leaving people isolated in their work.

Reconnection is the remedy.

Reconnection to purpose, to colleagues, to the patient stories that remind us why this work matters. When that is restored, resilience follows. Burnout doesn’t vanish overnight, but it loses its grip.

The path forward is not only more rest, but more meaning. More humanity in the daily practice of medicine.