The intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and burnout within the medical field is catastrophic. Medical professionals, previously tasked with working long hours under stressful conditions, are being tasked with handling even tougher circumstances. From making decisions concerning who should get a ventilator, to choosing whether or not to keep working when proper personal protective equipment is not available, professionals throughout the United States are struggling with weighing their morals and their mental health. This project aims to review magazine and newspaper literature about burnout in medicine and examine how burnout has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a structured keyword search in ProQuest, and excluded articles outside of the United States. We included a total of 150 articles in our preliminary search. Results largely indicate burnout persisting or worsening during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many individuals are of the opinion that healthcare won’t ever be the same. A narrative of healthcare workers being overworked and underappreciated is also presented with charged language describing professionals as at their ‘breaking point’ by many sources. Strong crisis language, while used to sell magazines or newspapers, is alarming to consider when discussing healthcare workers. This problem lends itself to a gap in the quality of patient care that can directly relate to worsened outcomes for patients. Future research should examine ways to minimize the impact of burnout for medical professionals in order to ensure that the well-being of both patients and health care teams are prioritized.
