Health-care workers often struggle to practise what they preach about coping with stress and about other healthy habits, researchers have found.

When researchers in France studying emergency room physicians surveyed 3,000 doctors to assess their working conditions, job satisfaction and overall health and well-being, they found half the ER docs were prone to burnout.

The study, published in the December online issue of the journal Emergency Medicine Journal, compared 538 ER doctors with nearly 2,000 specialists from a range of disciplines who were randomly selected and matched for age, gender and location.

Nurse Kelly Coulombe before she lost weight. (Courtesy of Kelly Coulombe)

Among emergency doctors, nearly 52 per cent were identified as having burnout, compared with 42 per cent of other doctors, Dr. Madeleine Estryn-Behar of the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris and her colleagues found.

Burned-out ER doctors tended to have a less active social life, to smoke more and to skip more meals than their peers, the researchers found.

Coulombe after she dropped 64 pounds. Research suggests health-care workers are more effective at coaxing patients to be active and healthy when they themselves are. (Courtesy of Kelly Coulombe)

A second, U.S.-based study, published in the fall issue of the journal Preventive Cardiology, concluded that doctors who don't exercise and eat well themselves are less confident about counselling patients about diet and exercise.

"Health-care professionals are just like other human beings in that we have opportunities to improve own wellness," said that study's senior author, Dr. Elizabeth Jackson, who specializes in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Michigan.

"But ... improving our own wellness will likely help our patients and our family and our community."

Doctors who followed guidelines to get 150 minutes of exercise over a week, for example, were more likely to talk to patients about staying active and more likely to feel their counselling was effective, Jackson noted.

Jackson thinks that when physicians are trying to become healthier themselves, they are also more likely to think about effective ways to counsel their patients, based on historical research on doctors trying to quit smoking.

Hospital's biggest losers

Overweight health-care workers in Canada are all too aware of how their habits and appearance can undermine their work.

"I have had situations where we're pushing clients to exercise or we're giving them reasons why they need to complete their physio routines and they're not motivated, and they'll turn to staff and say, 'Well, you look like you don't necessarily follow this type of regime as well,' " said Ryan Ibay, a rehab therapist at Hamilton General Hospital.

In early 2008, Ibay decided to join a weight-loss competition at work inspired by the TV show The Biggest Loser. He started out at 215 pounds, then lost 33 pounds in four months before gaining back 15 pounds.

The busy, stressful days at the hospital make it hard to eat well and exercise, Ibay said.

Another contestant, nurse Kelly Coulombe, was the biggest weight loser on her ward. Coulombe dropped 64 pounds and went from a size 16 to a size six.

"I completely changed the way I was eating," Coulombe said of her secret to success. "All the snacks that were brought to us, I refrained from, which was very difficult. And I walked 10 kilometres a day."

Two years later, Coulombe has kept the weight off by keeping up her diet and exercise routine.

Ibay said he's still trying to eat healthier and squeeze more fitness into his day.