Call for change in healthcare mindset

A James Cook University researcher is warning that an entrenched culture of perfectionism in medicine is placing both clinicians and patients at risk, driving burnout and undermining safe care.

JCU PhD candidate Rebecca Ward, who led the study, said perfectionism has traditionally been viewed as a marker of diligence and high professional standards. But she argues that when these expectations become embedded in workplace structures, they can have damaging consequences.

“When perfectionistic norms are reinforced organisationally, they can fuel cognitive overload, inhibit disclosure and impair clinical judgement,” Ms Ward said.

Drawing on neuroscience, organisational psychology, moral distress theory and contemporary patient safety research, the study examined how perfectionism shapes behaviour across the health system.

Ms Ward said the findings show that maladaptive perfectionism can drive defensive practice, discourage help seeking and intensify moral distress.

“These pressures are magnified in under resourced settings, where clinicians face chronic staff shortages, outdated equipment and limited access to specialist support,” she said.

“Under these conditions, the pursuit of ‘ideal’ standards can become psychologically destabilising and ethically fraught.”

Ms Ward said burnout in such environments should not be viewed as a personal weakness. Instead, rising rates of burnout, moral distress and clinician suicide should be recognised as indicators of system level dysfunction.

She called for a recalibration of medical excellence, shifting away from an expectation of infallibility toward what the researchers describe as sustainable competence.

This includes embedding clinician wellbeing into definitions of competence, normalising help seeking and redesigning productivity metrics that currently prioritise volume over reflective practice.

“This is not about lowering healthcare standards,” Ms Ward said.

“It’s about aligning expectations with the realities of clinical work, including the pressures, resource constraints and competing demands clinicians face every day. Systems that support clinicians are, ultimately, the systems that best protect patients.”

Link to paper here.