Risk of burnout, psychological growth, longevity of career and making sense of Covid-19 in senior Australian radiation oncologists.

Senior radiation oncologists in hospital/organisational settings, are repetitively and vicariously exposed to others' traumatic distress-perpetuating risk of burnout. Little is known of the additional organisational burdens of the Covid-19 pandemic on their mental well-being for career longevity. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, semi-structured interviews provided positive and negative subjective interpreted data from five senior Australian radiation oncologists during Covid-19 lockdowns. One superordinate theme, Vicarious risk, hierarchical invalidation, redefining altruistic authenticity, overarched four subordinate themes: (1) Vicarious contamination of caring, (2) The hierarchical squeeze, (3) The heavy burden of me and (4) Growth of authenticity. For these participants, juxtaposed challenges to career longevity and mental well-being were 'self' as empathic carer to vulnerable patients, and ever-increasing burdens of the organisation. Sensing invalidation, they experienced periods of exhaustion and disengagement. However, with experience and seniority, self-care was prioritised and nurtured through intrapersonal honesty, altruism and relational connectedness with patients and mentoring forward junior colleagues. Focusing on mutual well-being, a sense of life beyond radiation oncology became acceptable. For these participants, self-care became a relational joining with their patients separate from the lack of systemic support which heralded an early termination to their career for psychological well-being and authenticity.

© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy and New Zealand Institute of Medical Radiation Technology.