Burnout, Boundaries, and Balance - How to Set Boundaries and Lead a Balanced Life While Achieving Your Career Goals
Description
Burnout remains a critical issue across medical fields, including medical physics. Characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment, burnout impacts both personal well-being and patient safety. A 2019 JACMP study by Johnson et al. found that 32.8% of medical physicists reported frequent or constant burnout. More recently, Schofield et al. (JACMP 2025) reported that nearly 60% of physicists scored high in at least one burnout domain, with strong associations to safety culture, teamwork, and staffing adequacy. High levels of burnout not only affect individual fulfillment but also correlate with increased medical errors (West et al., JAMA 2006). Research indicates that increasing job control – such as establishing clear professional boundaries and promoting supportive work environments – can mitigate burnout (Liu et al., JACMP 2025). This session will explore evidence-based strategies to reduce burnout by focusing on setting and maintaining healthy workplace boundaries, with particular attention to challenges faced by women in medical physics. The session will include brief presentations on burnout research, the importance of boundary-setting, and methods of implementing boundaries for healthy work-life balance. An interactive component will follow, featuring a panel discussion where participants can anonymously submit real-life scenarios or questions – either before or during the session. Panelists will model effective communication and boundary-setting strategies in real time, giving attendees practical tools to foster resilience and maintain professional satisfaction while achieving career goals.