ASCO is providing support in the recognition of burnout and promotion of well-being in oncology. In May 2019, the ASCO Ethics Committee held a Burnout and Moral Distress in Oncology Roundtable. From those discussions, a call to action was published in JCO OP in March 2020 outlining recommendations to address this issue: A Call to Action: Ethics Committee Roundtable Recommendations for Addressing Burnout and Moral Distress in Oncology.
Based on this call to action, ASCO established the Oncology Clinician Well-Being Task Force, whose mission aims to improve the quality, safety, and value of cancer care by enhancing the well-being of oncology clinicians and sustainability of oncology practices. This Task Force has defined clinician well-being and developed a roadmap for broadening resources in this arena. ASCO is providing a variety of tools and resources specific to oncology professionals and the full oncology care team to help navigate through difficult and challenging times. Please check this page frequently as additional resources will continue to be added.
What Is Clinician Well-Being?
The ASCO Oncology Clinician Well-Being Task Force defines clinician well-being as an integrative concept that characterizes quality of life encompassing an individual's work- and personal health-related environmental, organizational, and psychosocial factors. Well-being is the state of experiencing positive perceptions about patients, colleagues, and staff and high engagement with one's clinical work in the presence of working conditions that enable that clinician to thrive. To experience well-being is to feel satisfied with one's clinical work, to find meaning in that work, and to experience professional growth and fulfillment.
New & Noteworthy
- ASCO Daily News: Addressing Burnout Among Oncologists During the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 2021)
- ASCO Daily News: Education Session on Burnout Makes a Plan to Prioritize Physician Well-Being (April 2021)
- From the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting: Creating a Blueprint of Well-Being in Oncology: Tips for Addressing Burnout from ASCO's Clinician Well-Being Taskforce
- Occupational and Personal Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on US Oncologist Burnout and Well-Being: A Study From the ASCO Clinician Well-Being Task Force (June 2021)
- Finding Our Way Out of Burnout (June 2021)
- ASCO eLearning Podcast: Burned Out? Here's What You Can Do About It (Part 1) (June 2021)
COVID-Related ASCO Resources
- ASCO Coronavirus Resources
- American Society of Clinical Oncology Road to Recovery Report: Learning From the COVID-19 Experience to Improve Clinical Research and Cancer Care
- ASCO Special Report: A Guide to Cancer Care Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Education
- ASCO Annual Meeting Sessions, Posters and Abstracts
- 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- Prior years: 2011 – 2016 Educational Book Collections
- ASCO Connection/Blogs
- Podcasts
- Webinars
Quality
- ASCO Quality of Care Symposium Sessions, Posters and Abstracts
- 2019 ASCO Quality Training Program Sessions: Burnout
Research/Evidence
- ASCO State of Cancer Care in America
- ASCO Survey of Oncology Practice Operations
- Articles and Publications
- Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Oncologist Burnout, Emotional Well-Being, and Moral Distress: Considerations for the Cancer Organization's Response for Readiness, Mitigation, and Resilience
- A Hopefulness Survey of SWOG members: Relationships Among Hope, Job Stress, and Burnout
- Storytelling as a Means of Improving Community and Decreasing Burnout in a Large Academic Cancer Center
- JCO OP Special Series: Physician Wellness, Burnout, and Moral Distress
- Addressing Depression, Burnout, and Suicide in Oncology Physicians
- From Burnout to Resilience: An Update for Oncologists
- National Study of Burnout and Career Satisfaction Among Physician Assistants in Oncology: Implications for Team-Based Care
- Oncology Fellows' Career Plans, Expectations, and Well-Being: Do Fellows Know What They Are Getting Into?
External Resources
- American College of Physicians, Individual Physician Well-being and Burnout Tools
- American Medical Association, Physician Burnout
- Association of Community Cancer Centers, Oncology Team Resiliency
- Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), COVID-19: Stress & Resilience, Crisis Standards of Care
- National Academies of Medicine, Well-Being Learning Collaborative