A randomized clinical trial found that physicians who wore a smartwatch and accessed its physiological data for six months had lower burnout rates and higher resilience scores compared with those who did not initially use the devices.
The trial, conducted from June 2023 to June 2024 at two US academic medical centers, included 184 physicians randomly assigned to receive a smartwatch immediately (n = 92) or after six months (n = 92). Both Garmin models tracked heart rate, activity, respiratory rate, stress, and sleep patterns. Participants included residents or fellows (45%) and attending physicians (55%), with a mean age of 37.5 years; 59% were female. Baseline burnout rates, resilience, and other well-being measures were similar between groups.
At six months, 35 of 85 physicians (41%) in the smartwatch group met burnout criteria compared with 46 of 91 physicians (51%) in the control group. In adjusted analysis, the odds of burnout were 54% lower in the intervention group. Resilience scores on a 40-point scale averaged 31.9 in the smartwatch group vs 29.5 in the control group.
No statistically significant differences were found between groups when conducting a paired analysis from baseline scores and multiple scales of reference in quality of life (7.1 vs 6.9), depressive symptoms (5.7 vs 6.1), stress scores (14.3 vs 15.6), or sleepiness (6.3 vs 7.2) at six months.
Adherence to device use was high. In the first six months, physicians in the intervention group wore the smartwatch an average of 76% of the time daily. From months 6 to 12, adherence remained above 70% . Following receipt of smartwatches at six months, the control group’s burnout rate and resilience scores improved to match those of the intervention group.
Limitations included volunteer bias, limited generalizability beyond academic centers, inability to blind participants, and potential smartwatch use outside the study. The trial did not determine which specific behaviors changed due to smartwatch use, and improvements could have resulted from increased awareness or participation effects.
“Wearing a smartwatch shows promise as an individual strategy to mitigate burnout and improve resilience, and it should be coupled with other individual and organizational efforts to address well-being more broadly," noted study authors Liselotte N. Dyrbye, MD, MHPE, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and colleagues.
Full disclosures can be found in the published study.
Source: JAMA Network Open
