Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Want a cure for physician burnout? Take care of yourself.

Jattu Senesie, MD
Physician
July 20, 2017
799 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

The recent celebration of Employee Well-being Month got me thinking a lot about how physicians are treated as employees with regard to well-being. There is a general consensus that the issue of physician well-being needs to be addressed at both the level of the individual physician and the level of the system in which physicians work.

Unfortunately, this insight has thus far failed to lead to significant improvement in the overall state of physician well-being or its evil twin, physician burnout.

A large part of the problem is that the whole health care system has a somewhat dysfunctional mindset around well-being. Well-being is calibrated on surviving rather than thriving. If something does not kill us, we are well enough to go to work.

Physicians are conditioned to work hard for no other reason than that is what we are supposed to do. That being the case, there is no real incentive for a health care organization to improve a terrible work situation when it has little to no impact on whether the doctors will keep showing up. It generally takes an act of God for a physician to take a sick day, much less quit a job.

This same way of thinking causes many physicians to balk at taking our well-being into our own hands when the system ignores it. We invest years of time, tens of thousands of dollars and immeasurable effort into becoming clinicians and somehow find it selfish to devote a fraction of that to addressing how to be well.

When we won’t take care of ourselves, it sends the message that taking care of us isn’t that important for the system to keep going.

With that in mind, I have a couple of words for my fellow physicians:

Start valuing your well-being as early as possible in your career.

The medical education process tends to disconnect physicians from the intuition that keeps us well. Ironically, while we are learning how to trust our guts in caring for patients, we become conditioned to ignore the signs that tell us what is necessary to maintain our own physical and emotional well-being.

I encourage all students, residents and early career physicians to keep in mind who and what supports your sense of well-being.

Prioritize those people and activities. You may not be able to spend as much time with them as much as you’d like while you are in training. I invite you to keep them a part of your life as much as possible.

All the transitions that occur on the path from first-year medical student to attending physician go much more smoothly when you acknowledge and prioritize the people and activities that ground you in a space of well-being.

Stop waiting for permission to care about your own well-being.

We, physicians, have this odd contradiction in our thinking. We like autonomy, so we don’t want anyone telling us what to do. At the same time, we like to know that what we are doing is sanctioned by the powers that be.

Here’s the hard truth: Sometimes, the decisions you have to make to prioritize your well-being will go against the grain of traditional medical culture. If you are completely burnt out/exhausted/running on fumes, you need to decide for yourself what has to happen to improve that situation.

You are likely to get a pressure ulcer sitting around waiting for your supervisor to schedule a heart-to-heart meeting to check on your well-being. In reality, as long as you show up when you are expected and get no patient complaints, no one is probably going to be concerned. You have to be your own advocate.

Summer brings the end of residency and fellowship training programs for many young physicians.

I particularly want to encourage those of you who are becoming attendings to reflect on how well-being and work co-exist in your lives. If they have been at odds, now is the time to get them integrated. I invite you to use this transition as an opportunity to design a life that supports your personal and professional well-being. Trust me. In the long run, starting this way will serve you and the entire health care system.

Jattu Senesie is an obstetrician-gynecologist who blogs at Essence of Strength.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

We need a more comprehensive approach to investigating medical mistakes

July 20, 2017 Kevin 31
…
Next

Physicians must treat patients with the utmost respect with regards to their spiritual beliefs

July 21, 2017 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
We need a more comprehensive approach to investigating medical mistakes
Next Post >
Physicians must treat patients with the utmost respect with regards to their spiritual beliefs

More by Jattu Senesie, MD

  • Shake up health care leadership. Now.

    Jattu Senesie, MD

Related Posts

  • Why health care replaced physician care

    Michael Weiss, MD
  • Chasing numbers contributes to physician burnout

    DrizzleMD
  • More physician responsibility for patient care

    Michael R. McGuire
  • Health care needs more physician CEOs

    Alexi Nazem, MD
  • Denying payment for emergency care: a physician defends insurers

    Michael Kirsch, MD
  • A physician’s addiction to social media

    Amanda Xi, MD

More in Physician

  • Beyond the disease: the power of empathy in health care

    Nana Dadzie Ghansah, MD
  • How to overcome telemedicine’s biggest obstacles

    Harvey Castro, MD, MBA
  • The patient who became my soulmate

    Anonymous
  • Breaking the stigma: Addressing the struggles of physicians

    Jean Antonucci, MD
  • Life as a physician is sometimes like a runaway trailer

    Christopher Nyte, DO
  • The controversial origin of the Hippocratic oath

    Brian Elliott, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • From physician to patient: one doctor’s journey to finding purpose after a devastating injury

      Stephanie Pearson, MD | Physician
    • Lifestyle change: the forgotten solution in health care

      Tyler Petersen | Conditions
    • An unspoken truth about non-compete clauses in medicine

      Harry Severance, MD | Policy
    • Fostering the next (diverse) generation of clinicians

      Imamu Tomlinson, MD, MBA | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Why are doctors sued and politicians aren’t?

      Kellie Lease Stecher, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Revaluating mental health assessments: It’s not just the patient you should consider

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Conditions
    • Beyond the disease: the power of empathy in health care

      Nana Dadzie Ghansah, MD | Physician
    • Rescuing primary care: the role of health administrators [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Breaking down barriers: How technology is improving diabetes management in underserved communities

      Anonymous | Conditions
    • From penicillin to digital health: the impact of social media on medicine

      Homer Moutran, MD, MBA, Caline El-Khoury, PhD, and Danielle Wilson | Social media
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • Investigational ALS Drug May Have Clinical Benefit, FDA Staff Says
  • Cases of Deadly Fungus Tripled in Past Few Years, CDC Says
  • Small Gains in Cardiorespiratory Fitness Track With Improved Longevity
  • Improved OS With Hyperfractionated RT in Recurrent Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
  • GPT-4 Is Here. How Can Doctors Use Generative AI Now?

Meeting Coverage

  • Rapid Improvement in Atopic Dermatitis With Topical PDE4 Inhibitor
  • New Approaches in the Bladder-Sparing Paradigm
  • Response Rates in Hidradenitis Suppurativa Continue to Climb With New Therapies
  • Another Win for a JAK Inhibitor in Alopecia Areata
  • Biologic Switch Revs Up Response in Plaque Psoriasis
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • From physician to patient: one doctor’s journey to finding purpose after a devastating injury

      Stephanie Pearson, MD | Physician
    • Lifestyle change: the forgotten solution in health care

      Tyler Petersen | Conditions
    • An unspoken truth about non-compete clauses in medicine

      Harry Severance, MD | Policy
    • Fostering the next (diverse) generation of clinicians

      Imamu Tomlinson, MD, MBA | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Why are doctors sued and politicians aren’t?

      Kellie Lease Stecher, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Revaluating mental health assessments: It’s not just the patient you should consider

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Conditions
    • Beyond the disease: the power of empathy in health care

      Nana Dadzie Ghansah, MD | Physician
    • Rescuing primary care: the role of health administrators [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Breaking down barriers: How technology is improving diabetes management in underserved communities

      Anonymous | Conditions
    • From penicillin to digital health: the impact of social media on medicine

      Homer Moutran, MD, MBA, Caline El-Khoury, PhD, and Danielle Wilson | Social media
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today iMedicalApps
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...