Stress and burnout in medical practices: 7 strategies to make your day-to-day easier

Stress becomes a problem when it never really subsides. When consultations, calls, administrative work, and the pressure of everyday practice pile up, fatigue eventually takes a toll on concentration, energy, and the relationship with patients. In Switzerland, burnout symptoms are estimated to affect 20 to 40% of healthcare professionals. In this article, we share 7 strategies to lighten your daily workload and reduce the risk of burnout.

In healthcare professions, professional exhaustion is still often minimized. Many healthcare providers keep going despite fatigue because they feel they have to hold on, keep things running, and absorb the pressure. Yet this very reflex is what makes burnout difficult to spot in time. The problem is not only the intensity of the work. It is also the fact that exhaustion often sets in silently.

According to the 2022 Job Stress Index, 30.3% of employed people in Switzerland say they are emotionally exhausted, while 17% have already experienced burnout. For healthcare professionals, these figures are even higher:

• As early as 2014, 33% of physicians sometimes felt at the end of their rope, to the point of thinking, “I can’t take it anymore.”
• Between 20 and 40% of medical staff show signs of burnout.

These data highlight the importance of prevention and concrete tools to reduce mental and administrative workload.

When days are fully booked, unexpected events come up, the phone interrupts a task in progress, and administrative work takes up more and more space, tension becomes chronic. FMH surveys on the medical work environment show precisely that bureaucratization and administrative workload remain major concerns for physicians in Switzerland. In fact, healthcare professionals were already spending 119 minutes per day on patient documentation in 2019.

Clinical work does not only require technical skills. It also calls on attention, listening, and emotional regulation. Over time, this repeated exposure can lead to compassion fatigue, increasing irritability, a form of detachment, or a loss of meaning. This is often where chronic stress changes in nature and can turn into burnout.

In Switzerland, we are facing an increasingly severe shortage of medical staff. This shortage increases organizational pressure and adds to the workload of those who remain.

Burnout does not always begin with a collapse. It often begins with signs we tend to brush off. Disrupted sleep, persistent fatigue, headaches, irritability, repeated infections, digestive issues: these signs are not “normal” simply because the practice is busy. The sooner you take them seriously, the more room you have to act.

Excessive emotional distance, cynicism, loss of patience, memory lapses, difficulty concentrating, or the urge to isolate yourself are often early indicators. When these signs last for several weeks, it is no longer just a difficult period. It may reflect chronic stress that is taking hold. The key is not to let the situation become the new normal.

In a medical practice, you do not always have the option to “take a real break.” However, you can often create 30 to 90 seconds of recovery between two intense moments. Breathing more slowly, relaxing your shoulders, taking a few steps, briefly stepping away from a tense exchange: these are small actions, but they can help lower the tension.

Not every delay is a failure. Not every dissatisfied patient is a rejection. Not every unexpected event is a sign that you are doing your job poorly. This ability to mentally reframe a stressful situation may seem secondary, but it plays a real role in emotional regulation. Research on cognitive reappraisal shows that it is associated with better resilience to stress and lower anxiety impact.

Vacations, days off, and time away from work are not just there to help you “make it through until the next busy period.” They are part of a healthy work balance. But they also need to be truly restorative. To make that possible, your absence needs to be well prepared so you can really disconnect. Tip: To make sure preparing for your vacation does not become a source of stress in itself, we have also created a checklist to help you prepare for your vacation!

Stress does not only happen within the care relationship. It also happens in everything that relationship involves. Fewer calls, automatic reminders, better-structured messages, well-chosen digital tools, smoother information flow: these adjustments do not replace individual prevention, but they can remove some unnecessary friction.

When warning signs build up and everyday adjustments are no longer enough, asking for support is not a weakness. In Switzerland, the FMH provides ReMed, a confidential support network for physicians. A counseling team generally responds within 72 hours and suggests options adapted to your situation.

Burnout in a medical practice is neither rare nor limited to extreme situations. It often develops gradually. Spotting it early, lightening what can be lightened, and asking for support before things break down can make a real difference. Burnout prevention does not rely on one major decision, but on concrete, repeated adjustments that are taken seriously early enough.

• Bajwa et al. (2019). Burnout chez les médecins – parlons-en : concepts, dépistage et que faire ?.
• Riepenhausen, A., Wackerhagen, C., Reppmann, Z. C., Deter, H.-C., Kalisch, R., Veer, I. M., & Walter, H. (2022). Positive cognitive reappraisal in stress resilience, mental health, and well-being: A comprehensive systematic review. Emotion Review, 14(4), 310–331.
• Siegfried, S. (2023). Is Switzerland becoming the ‘burn-out nation’?.
• Tribune de Genève. Médecins au bord de la crise de nerfs.
• Unisanté. Unisanté lance une vaste étude nationale pour améliorer la prise en charge du burnout professionnel.