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As burnout rates soar among oncologists and other healthcare professionals, 2025 kicked off with a dedicated 2-day meeting addressing this urgent issue.

Organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Resilience Task Force, the workshop was held in Barcelona on 31 January and 1 February, addressing burnout and promoting well-being among European oncologists and other healthcare professionals. Discussions centered on practical strategies based on ESMO’s recently published recommendations in ESMO Open on managing psychosocial risks, enhancing well-being, and reducing burnout in oncology settings.

In the opening speech, Susana Banerjee, consultant medical oncologist and research lead for the Gynaecology Unit at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and chair of the ESMO Resilience Task Force, outlined the meeting’s key objectives. These included understanding the mental health and well-being challenges faced by oncologists in Europe and globally, analyzing the factors contributing to burnout, and identifying essential resilience skills. She also emphasized the importance of developing an action plan to address these issues.

The workshop included case studies and shared field experiences to provide practical insights and guide discussions.

Alarming Data

Jonathan Lim, clinical senior lecturer at The University of Manchester and consultant oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England, presented alarming data on burnout among oncologists. A survey conducted a few years ago among young oncologists from 41 European countries revealed that burnout, classified in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision as an occupational phenomenon rather than a pathology, affects 52%-84% of professionals.

Findings from three surveys conducted by ESMO during the workshop by Miriam O'Connor, consultant medical oncologist at University Hospital Waterford, Waterford, Ireland, showed that the situation worsened during the pandemic.

One significant finding was that one in four participants considered changing careers. Burnout also affects pharmacists and nurses, leading to increased medical errors and understaffing due to early retirement.

Lim emphasized that burnout can affect anyone at any time and that supporting healthcare providers is essential to ensure quality care.

Practical Strategies

The meeting aimed to go beyond problem identification and propose practical solutions. Konstantinos Kamposioras, chair of the ESMO OncologyPro Working Group and member of the ESMO GI Faculty Group at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, outlined three key themes from the ESMO recommendations:

• High-quality information and training can support oncologists' professional development and improve cancer care.
• Dedicated strategies and resources are necessary to safeguard the psychological and physical health of staff.
• Activism and advocacy are necessary to promote oncology and ensure staff well-being.

For each thematic area, concrete case studies were presented to illustrate strategies for achieving these goals, along with clear guidance on who should be involved in each initiative. For instance, ensuring manageable workloads requires the participation of healthcare professionals, international scientific societies such as ESMO, national scientific societies, and individual institutions. Meanwhile, creating a positive work environment with well-being resources is primarily the responsibility of healthcare institutions.

‘Impostor’ Oncologists

"A psychological pattern in which the individual doubts his or her own achievements and fears being 'outed' and seen as an impostor": This is one possible definition of the so-called impostor syndrome, discussed by Enes Erul, an oncology fellow at Ankara University Cancer Research Institute, Ankara, Turkey, during the workshop. Highly skilled professionals, such as oncologists, are particularly susceptible to this syndrome, contributing to burnout and lower job satisfaction.

Strategies to mitigate this syndrome align with the ESMO recommendations for oncologists’ well-being. These include awareness and education programs, personal development and resilience training, mentorship and peer support networks, promoting a positive work environment, and organizational policy changes such as work-life balance initiatives, mental health days, and access to support services. An important first step for oncologists is to set personal goals and reasonable expectations without striving for perfection.

This story was translated from Univadis Italy using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.