Faced with a burnout crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, medical institutions and individuals are beginning to advocate for a re-infusion of meaning and purpose into medicine. 

Research has demonstrated that lower amounts of time spent doing work that doctors consider meaningful is a strong predictor of doctor burnout, stronger than the number of working hours per week, age, and working as a generalist. 

Doctors who spent less than 20% of work time engaged in meaningful activities had significantly higher rates of burnout (53.8%) than those who spent more than 20% of their work time on such activities (29.9%). 

On the flipside, doctor happiness has been found to be most highly correlated with career purpose, including aspects such as career satisfaction, joy in work, spiritual purpose, and meaning in patient relationships. Additionally, studies have shown that stronger purpose in life is associated with increased resilience and decreased mortality.

Currently, experts are exploring the meaning-centered teachings of the Viennese neurologist, psychiatrist, and philosopher Viktor Frankl, MD, PhD. 

Author of ground-breaking books such as Man's Search for Meaning and The Doctor and the Soul, Frankl proposed that people are primarily motivated by a search for meaning and purpose. They can discover this through creative acts or what they give to the world, experiences taken from the world, and their attitude.

How exactly to achieve that approach remains an open question. Some experts suggest Frankl's philosophy and teachings could be taught to doctors as a useful foundation and toolset to help them re-engage in finding meaning in their work. 

Healthcare providers and leaders collectively face the challenge of determining specific changes that reduce burnout in the long term. We look forward to studies assessing interventions based on this promising meaning-centered approach.