While you are likely proud to be a critical care medicine (CCM) practitioner, does work routinely leave you increasingly drained? Do you feel resentful about requests for “futile interventions” and unwilling to absorb others’ anger and grief? Has your job made you feel chronically disconnected, disenchanted and devalued? If so, then—like these two authors and many of your colleagues—you are at risk for burnout syndrome (BOS). Fortunately, this condition need not be terminal. While BOS often waxes and wanes, long-term resilience requires sustained effort at the individual, team and system level. This article aims to spur reflection, and offer putative solutions. We also wish to normalize the conversation: BOS does not just affect “wimps”, and can no longer be ignored.

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