Fighting Burnout in Hematology Through Awareness, Balance: Adela Perolla, MD, PhD

In part 2 of an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^® at this year's European Hematology Association (EHA) Congress in Milan, Adela Perolla, MD, PhD, a hematologist at the University Hospital Center "Mother Teresa" in Tirana, Albania, discusses strategies to change the stigma around burnout in hematology, as well as how to eliminate it altogether.

Perolla concludes by explaining why this topic was important to explore during her presentation, "The Epidemic of Burnout in Hematology," delivered as part of the YoungEHA session, "The Emotional Burden of Hematology: Navigating the Psychological Impact of Hematologic Practice and Research." She also served as an investigator on the abstract, "Burnout Symptoms Among Hematology Professionals: An EHA Survey," which will be presented on Saturday.

Watch part 1 to learn more about the current state of burnout among hematologists, including key drivers and its impact on the workforce.

This transcript was lightly edited; captions were auto-generated.

Transcript

Do you think there is still stigma around acknowledging burnout or seeking support in hematology? If so, how can that culture be changed?

Yes, there is a lot of stigma I have seen, not only in the EHA study, in the EHA survey on burnout, but also in the ASH [American Society of Hematology] survey on burnout in hematologists, also in the ASCO [American Society of Clinical Oncology] survey that [was] performed in 2013 by [Tait D. Shanafelt] and redone in 2023. I have seen that there are a lot of questionnaires about the mass-level burnout study sent to them [hematologists], and very few [have] completed those surveys.

This is because most physicians think that it's something about depression, something about stress, that makes them feel vulnerable, and they don't want to show this part. This is the point, that the stigma must be fought in this way because if we do not fight the burnout, and if we do not say we are burned out, what can [we] fight if we are not aware of what we are passing through?

What strategies or interventions have shown promise in helping to prevent or reduce burnout?

There are a lot of activities [that] can prevent burnout, but I think the [most] important thing is to find an equilibrium between our work and our life after work. First of all, we are like a battery that's going to finish. We have to recharge, but we do not have to put ourselves at the limit in order to [distance ourselves] from our patients or from our work for a [large] amount of time.

If we feel tired, we just have to stop [for] 10 minutes during our day, 10 minutes every hour, for example, just to recuperate ourselves and meditate. Mindfulness is really important. Sometimes, we just have to close our eyes, [take] deep breaths, and focus on what we have. What is our aspiration? [When] we are emotionally exhausted, we have lost our interest, and we lose focus on what is important to us.

I am a hematologist. The first moment I started hematology, I was in love with hematology, but day after day, my love faded because of [the] amount of work I had to do. At this point, I think we just have to remember ourselves, what our focus is, [and] why we have studied hematology, or medicine for the other doctors. After that, take a deep breath and just restart where we started on the first day. Don't be put down by this burnout.

A second point, I focus more on sports. If you run, do a lot of sports, and [are] with the people you love most, these are the ways we can fight burnout. We don't have to be isolated in order to surpass this problem, but we have to be with people we love.

Why is it important to highlight burnout in a YoungEHA session? What do you hope early-career professionals take away from the presentation?

Studies have demonstrated that the younger you are, the lower your academic level, the more burned out you get. This is the reason why this survey has been presented and will be presented also on Saturday in another session about burnout in young people, in young hematologists, in early career hematologists. They have to know what they are going to risk if they don't fight burnout and if they let themselves put it down by work stress and the amount of work they do during the day.

Another thing, I have to give a message: they have to fight the burnout. They have to raise their voices and not be [affected by] the idea of stigma. This is why we are presenting in the youngEHA session.