Physician Burnout and The problem with complaining about the system - By Seth Godin

Physician Burnout and Vacation
– 3 Power Tools

In this post you will learn

1. Why regular vacations are essential to prevent physician burnout (and to the quality of your love life!)
2. Power tools to ensure you take a big one – at least two weeks - at least every other year
3. How to build and maintain your boundaries while you are away
4. A simple method to avoid Einstein’s Insanity Trap when you return home

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General Surgery Resident Burnout Survey shows prevalence of 69%

A just released study in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons surveyed all 258 US General Surgery Residency Programs  - and all 1224 residents - for the presence of burnout symptoms. 

• 665 residents actively engaged in clinical training had data for analysis
• 69% of those met the criterion for burnout on at least one subscale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory.

Is anyone actually surprised at this number?

National Recognition for Our Client Avera Health in Sioux Falls !!

Our clients Avera Health in Sioux Falls, South Dakota just won the  2016 Medicus Integra Award from the Coalition for Physician Wellbeing.

In 2014 we collaborated with Avera to provide 8 full onsite training days for their regional hub hospitals and launched their Burnout Prevention Working Group which they call the LIGHT Committee. The letters stand for 

Of course Physician Burnout is a Public Health Crisis !!

And it is WAY beyond time for our Manhattan Project.

A recent video post on Medscape by Art Caplan PhD from the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center calls out Physician Burnout as a public health crisis. The 426 comments on the post attest to the chord this struck with physicians across the country. 

I totally agree ...

• If HIV is a public health issue
• If lead poisoning is a public health issue
• If infant car seats are a public health issue

Then physician burnout should be recognized as a public health issue - a true public health crisis - in any setting where physicians take care of patients.

Here's why ...

Meet our new Physician Coach here at TheHappyMD.com

Our website is committed to being a safe haven for physicians worldwide. One visit here will show you a reference library of hyper-focused tools and support for burnout. With just a couple clicks you can book a one hour phone consult with a physician coach - at no cost.

Since 2010 our island of support on the web has been available 24/7 for anyone with internet access worldwide. As I write this blog post we have 9721 members from 63 countries around the world.

We have helped thousands of physicians so far via these Discovery Session Consults and via the book and our live training events. With 25,000 web visitors a month ... the demand for support from over stressed doctors just keeps expanding.

What started out as my one man effort to serve our people has uncovered far greater need than I can address on my own.

So earlier this year I assembled everything I have learned in over 1700 hours of one-on-one physician coaching and started to build our Coaching Team.

I will hand select coaches with the following qualifications:

Preventing Physician Burnout – Current  Best Practices

In our work with the C-suite of healthcare organizations across the country, one question comes up consistently after our initial training delivery: “What can we do as an organization to take better care of our people?” It is the core question of an administrator that understands the Quadruple Aim.

Unfortunately these same leaders are often trapped in a subtle form of magic thinking. They hope my answer will provide them with a solution to the problem of burnout. That is never going to happen for one simple reason …

Burnout is not a problem. There is no solution.

This does not mean burnout cannot be addressed or that there is no way to take better care of the providers and staff.

The first step in the process is to call burnout by its true name.

What is the #1 skill of quality physician leadership?

The answer may surprise you.

What I can tell you is that being a great clinician does not teach you this skill. In fact, our medical education sets us up to be naturally ineffective leaders.

I am not just talking about physicians in official leadership positions here. All physicians are leaders. We all have people who look up to us for guidance, answers, wisdom and vision. So let's get you the skill set you need to do a great job.

Once you learn this key skill 

• You will see your team perform better than ever
• And you won't be working nearly as hard as you do now

In the brief video below you will learn this master skill and the "Lone Ranger" test to know exactly when you need to throw it into gear.

Physician burnout, Einstein's lesson #2 and 30 minutes that can  change your life

We all know Einstein's famous definition of insanity:

"Doing the same thing over and over
and expecting a different result."

The Insanity Definition is LESSON ONE in preventing physician burnout. 

Not only is that obviously crazy, it is one of the core causes of physician burnout. When the going gets tough, our workaholic programming only gives us one coping mechanism - work harder. So that's what we do until we can't keep going any longer.

Einstein's Lesson #2 is the escape hatch on the insanity trap

Here it is:

"No problem can be solved
at the same level of consciousness
that created it"

Here's how this saying applies to a practicing physician

The Quadruple Aim Mission Statement Challenge

Is your organization focused on the Triple Aim or the new Quadruple Aim ... and what impact can you expect on your quality of life?

This 30 second peek at your Mission Statement will show you just how much your organization understands burnout ... and cares about you ... and what you can do about it.