Reader response: Qualitative study of burnout, career satisfaction, and well-being among US neurologists in 2016

I read with interest the article by Miyasaki et al.¹ that looked at the free-text comments regarding burnout from current practicing neurologist members of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) residing in the United States. While external system-wide factors are responsible for much of the burnout, I disagree with the authors' assertion that interventions focusing on individual physicians such as time management and stress reduction courses are not helpful in preventing burnout. A physician gets burnt out when his or her capacity to adjust to the pressures at work is overwhelmed. While it is worthwhile to identify the factors that contribute to burnout, it would be naive to think things are going to change for the better in the immediate future. Electronic health records are here to stay and so are the numerous government regulations. Thus far, the AAN has been ineffective in advocating on our behalf or in rolling back any of these regulations. So, when I find myself struggling, I remind myself of the saying “the race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.”² While we love our profession, there is more to life than just medicine or neurology.