Lifestyle medicine practice linked to lower clinician burnout

Healthcare professionals report that treating patients with lifestyle medicine helps to reduce burnout by increasing professional satisfaction, meaning, and a sense of effectiveness at work, according to a new study published in BMC Health Services Research.

"Using Lifestyle Medicine to Treat Patients Can Reduce Practitioner Burnout: A Descriptive Model Derived from Healthcare Staff Interviews," is based on in-depth interviews with 41 healthcare professionals and administrators across five U.S. health systems that have implemented lifestyle medicine programs.

Participants who were interviewed described higher job satisfaction after lifestyle medicine implementation, citing meaningful patient improvements, increased patient empowerment, stronger patient relationships, and alignment between their professional values and day-to-day clinical work. Physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians, psychologists, health coaches, and administrators were among the interviewees.

Burnout - characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy - is widespread among physicians and other health professionals and is linked to lower quality of care, reduced patient satisfaction, and higher turnover. Causes of burnout include excessive administrative burden, inefficient systems, heavy workloads, and loss of professional autonomy. While previous survey research has shown an association between greater lifestyle medicine practice and lower burnout, this study is among the first to explore why that relationship may exist.

The new study identified specific factors that may help buffer against burnout, including witnessing patient health improvements, increased patient satisfaction, having supportive and like-minded colleagues, gratitude for organizational support, and improved staff health by allowing clinicians to apply lifestyle medicine principles to their own lives.

Researchers developed an explanatory model linking these factors to the three core dimensions of burnout, suggesting that lifestyle medicine may reduce exhaustion, decrease detachment or cynicism, and strengthen clinicians' sense of professional accomplishment.

Many participants described lifestyle medicine as the kind of care they originally hoped to practice when they entered health care. Seeing patients improve, often with fewer medications and greater engagement in their own health, appeared to restore a sense of purpose and effectiveness for many clinicians."

Bruce Weeks, MD, lead author

While the authors note that lifestyle medicine alone cannot address structural drivers of burnout such as excessive workloads or documentation burdens, they conclude that organizational implementation of lifestyle medicine may represent a promising systems-level approach that benefits both patients and healthcare practitioners.

"Previous research has shown an association between practicing lifestyle medicine and lower levels of clinician burnout," said ACLM Senior Director of Research Micaela Karlsen, PhD. "This study builds on that evidence by giving voice to clinicians and illuminating how meaningful patient outcomes, value-aligned care, and stronger patient-clinician relationships may help restore professional joy and purpose in healthcare practice."

Lifestyle medicine is a medical specialty that uses therapeutic lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to treat chronic conditions, including but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Lifestyle medicine certified clinicians are trained to apply evidence-based, whole-person, prescriptive lifestyle change to treat and, when used intensively, often reverse such conditions. Applying the six pillars of lifestyle medicine-a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connections, and avoidance of risky substances-also provides effective prevention for these conditions.