Breaking the silence on provider burnout and mental health

Stephen Salanski, MD

Burnout and mental health challenges are significant concerns for physicians and other healthcare professionals, with many of the contributing factors tied to the demands and culture of healthcare. 

A 2025 Mayo Clinic study found more than 45% of physicians report symptoms of burnout. That number is even higher among nurses. 

Stephen Salanski, MD, has a long-time interest in physician wellness and mental health advocacy. During National Physician Suicide Awareness Day on Sept. 17, he led a Kansas City Medical Society Speaker’s Bureau presentation on the NKC Health hospital campus.

Dr. Salanski explored how burnout can overlap with anxiety, depression and substance use and, in some cases, suicidal thoughts or behaviors.

“Burnout can lead to mental health conditions, and those can lead to suicidal ideation,” Dr. Salanski said. “It’s sort of an overlapping group of Venn diagrams.”

The pressures behind burnout often include increasing patient volumes, administrative and documentation demands, limited control over work and schedules and a lack of organizational support These factors point to a need for change at the organizational level, not just individual efforts to manage stress.

“Improving burnout has to be around changing the system,” Dr. Salanski said. “Part of it is what you can do internally by helping yourself. But part of it is what health systems can do.”

For providers, personal resilience can come from maintaining meaningful connections and activities outside of medicine, such as exercise, music, faith-based activities, sports or time with family and friends. Health systems can complement those efforts by reducing administrative burdens, improving practice efficiency and creating opportunities for peer support and team-based conversations after difficult events.

Access to support also depends on making it safe to ask for help. Providers may worry that seeking mental health care will be viewed as a weakness or affect their professional credentials or licensure. Concerns about confidentiality can be another barrier, even when resources are designed to be confidential.

That cultural shift requires leadership. Peer-support programs, wellness committees and dedicated wellness leadership can help make provider well-being part of an organization’s culture rather than an issue addressed only when someone reaches a crisis point.

One of the Kansas City Medical Society’s goals is to change how healthcare professionals think about asking for help — and how their colleagues and organizations respond when they do.

“Hopefully something like this will start physicians feeling like they can talk to others about their issues,” Dr. Salanski said. “We need to normalize it, so everyone feels comfortable saying, ‘Hey, I feel like I need some help or I need to talk to somebody.’”

The Kansas City Medical Society offers many provider mental health resources, including crisis support lines and psychological services.