ASCO is providing support in the recognition of burnout and the 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 the sustainability of oncology practices. This Task Force has defined clinician well-being and developed a roadmap for broadening resources in this arena. ASCO provides 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

• Enroll Today: SafeHaven™ Clinician Well-Being Resources
  • In response to an unmet need by our ASCO members and in coordination with our ASCO Oncology Clinician Well-Being Task Force, starting March 1, ASCO members in the U.S. can enroll in SafeHaven™, a comprehensive collection of physician wellbeing resources.

    U.S. ASCO members can enroll anytime between March 1 and August 1, and ASCO will cover 80% of the cost of the service for the first 1,000 members who enroll, making it only $75 total for the 18-month program.

     Enroll here. 
• OncLive - Slow Burn to Wildfire: How Do We Douse the Flames of Burnout in Oncology?
• Healio - Oncology practices struggle ‘to run at all levels’ amid workforce shortage
• AJMC - PA Is Part of an “Antiquated System” With Patient Safety, Workforce Burnout Implications
• Cleveland Clinic HealthEssentials - Self-Care Tips for Caregivers: Your Health Matters, Too
• Pulmonology Advisor - Strategies for Addressing Physician Burnout and Stress-Related Illness
• ET Healthworld.com - The Case (load) of the Overwhelmed Oncologist
• National Academy of Medicine: Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience
• ASCO Endorses Lorna Breen Act on Clinician Well-Being and Mental Health

Education

• ASCO Annual Meeting Sessions, Posters, and Abstracts
  • 2022
  • 2021
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
  • Prior years: 2012 – 2017 Educational Book Collections
• ASCO Connection/Blogs
  • Physician Wellness Blog
    • Burnout is Cancer
    • From Burnout to Balance
  • Physician Wellness and Professional Burnout
  • Are Oncology Training Programs Transparent Enough When Discussing Aspects of Real-World Practice?
  • 7 Perspectives on Coping With and Preventing Burnout
  • Surviving Burnout in Medical Oncology
• Podcasts
  • Burnout in Oncology: Trainee Perspective
  • Burned Out? Here's What You Can Do About It (Part 1)
  • Burned Out? Here's What You Can Do About It (Part 2)
  • Development of an “Art of Oncology” Curriculum to Mitigate Burnout and Foster Solidarity Among Hematology/Oncology Fellows
• Webinars
  • ASCO Webinar on Burnout and Oncology Clinician Well-Being
  • ASCO Webinar on The Impact of Well-Being on Quality Care Internationally

Quality

• ASCO Quality of Care Symposium Sessions, Posters, and Abstracts
  • 2020
  • 2019
  • 2018
• 2019 ASCO Quality Training Program Sessions: Burnout

Research/Evidence

• ASCO State of Cancer Care in America
• ASCO Survey of Oncology Practice Operations
  • 2019 Results
• Articles and Publications
  • Attending to Oncology Team Well-Being
  • Association of Organizational Context, Collaborative Practice Models, and Burnout Among Physician Assistants in Oncology
  • Evaluation of Burnout in a National Sample of Hematology-Oncology Pharmacists
  • Changes in Burnout Among Oncology Physician Assistants Between 2015 and 2019
  • 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
  • Finding Our Way Out of Burnout
  • ASCO Daily News: Addressing Burnout Among Oncologists During the COVID-19 Pandemic
  • ASCO Daily News: Education Session on Burnout Makes a Plan to Prioritize Physician Well-Being
  • 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
  • Moral Distress, Organizational Climate, and the Risk of Burnout Among Oncology Physician Assistants
  • A Hopefulness Survey of SWOG members: Relationships Among Hope, Job Stress, and Burnout
  • To Address Burnout in Oncology, We Must Look To Teams: Reflections on an Organizational Science Approach
  • Burnout Among Oncology Physician Assistants (PAs) from 2015 to 2019
  • Changes in Burnout Among Oncology Physician Assistants Between 2015 and 2019
  • 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, Physician Well-Being and Professional Fulfillment
  • Individual Physician Well-being and Burnout Tools
  • I.M. Emotional Support Hub
    • Physician Support Line
    • The Emotional PPE Project
    • Therapy Aid Coalition
• 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
• Free and available resources:
  • 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (Text 988)
  • The psychiatrist-led Physician Support Line (Call 1-888-409-0141)
  • The National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline (Call 800-950-NAMI) or email helpline@nami.org
  • The Crisis Text Line (Text "HOME" to 741741 and text "FRONTLINE" for free crisis counseling-USA text 741741)

Meditation and Mindfulness Apps

• Breathing Zone
• Buddhify
• Calm
• Happify
• Headspace
• Health Journeys
• The Mindfulness App
• Mindfulness Coach
• Mindfulness Daily
• Pause
• Stop Breathe & Think
• Stress Free Now Meditations (Cleveland Clinic)

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

Questions or Comments? Contact ASCO Staff.