Physician Burnout and the Brain Changes of the Eeyore Effect

Have you ever noticed how everything changes when you are exhausted, burned out or in a foul mood? Even little things get under your skin, you get stuck in traffic, spill coffee on your white shirt, forget your reading glasses ... it all happens on the same day and it is distinctly crazy-making. Have you ever experienced that?

I call it the Eeyore Effect

In this article let me show you the latest functional MRI brain research on the basis of the Eeyore Effect and and give you an extremely simple way to turn it all around.

PODCAST - The Root Causes of Physician Burnout

 Here is a podcast with the talented John Jurica MD at The VITAL Physician Executive at this link. 

We discussed:
1. The scope of our activities beyond publishing The Happy MD blog and website;
2. How the Quadruple Aim is not being realized;
3. A working definition of physician burnout;
4. How coaching has helped thousands of physicianssalvage their clinical careers;
5. Five root causes of physician burnout;
6. Three burnout myths;
7. The first steps to take to eliminate burnout.

CLICK the Play Button to Start Listening

The Battle for the Quadruple Aim - It's 3 on 1 and the Outcome Is Unclear

The Quadruple Aim is a simple, common sense concept that goes like this:

Quality patient care is based on the health and wellbeing of the human beings providing that care ... the doctors and staff. 

I know ... you are probably saying "Duh" right now. It seems like such an obvious statement of fact ... right? And it is such an obvious antidote to physician burnout.

I must admit I  had a naive assumption that this concept would take off like a rocket after the first article in Annals of Family Medicine in 2015. And it has not. 

The Quadruple Aim is actually a radical notion in the healthcare industry for three distinct reasons I will show you below.

The battle lines are drawn and the forces are in raging conflict in C-suites and Board Rooms across the globe.

Unfortunately the outcome is in doubt at this point in time.

The Patient’s Problem List is NOT a List of Problems -  - Physician Burnout is Not A Problem Either !

The beginning of all wisdom starts by calling things by their right name. ~ Confucius

Healthcare's Pervasive Misuse of the Word "PROBLEM"

The patient’s Problem List is NOT a list of problems at all.

As a matter of fact, when you see a patient for a true problem, the last thing you would do is enter that onto their Problem List.

In this blog post, let me show why every item on the Problem List is something other than a problem -- and the extremely valuable physician burnout lesson we can learn by correcting this extremely common mistake.

Learn …

• Why “PROBLEM” – is perhaps the most frequently mis-used word in the English language

• Why Physician Burnout is NOT a PROBLEM either

• How to avoid the futile search for a solutions when none exist

• The true nature – and real name – of these non-problems

• Where to focus your energy and brain power to address them successfully

Stop Physician Burnout - How to Get a Scribe

EMR and documentation join physician burnout as another DILEMMA in the life of physicians. There is no solution/cure/fix/magic pill to make your documentation chores disappear, what is needed is a strategy to get your charts done and get you home at a reasonable hour. 

In addition to templates, batch processing, Dragon and perhaps even a "super MA" -- one powerful component of your documentation strategy could be a Medical Scribe.

In this post let me show you how to get a scribe, even if you have been told you can't have one before. This method has never failed in my experience if you follow the steps below.

Physician Wellness - What is the Level of Expertise in Your Organization?

In this post let me show you two important new developments in the prevention of physician burnout.

1) The definition of Five Levels of Expertise in Physician Wellbeing as proposed by Tait Shanafelt et al in an important new study.

2) A new way for your organization to leap frog to LEVEL FIVE in a single step.

Take a look at the table below and LEAVE A COMMENT telling us the level of your organization's expertise in preventing physician burnout.

Stop Physician Burnout - how to eliminate money worries and deal with money problems in a single step

Financial worries are stressful enough to be an actual cause of physician burnout for many doctors. In this short video let me show you

• The difference between Money Worries and Money Problems. All doctor worry about money and some of us have money problems. Let's look at the difference between the two and how you solve both.
• And the Key Members of the Money Team every doctor must have 

Learn this and much more in the short video below:

Physician Burnout and the Light-at-the-End-of-the-Tunnel Illusion

"I'm just hoping there is a light at the end of this tunnel"

I know you've heard the little voice in your head say that before. Me too. Happens to all of us from time to time.

These thoughts come up when you are slogging away day after day --  with no visible end to this struggle in sight. You have been going at this issue for a while now, your energy is drained and your inner pessimist comes out. It is extremely common in overwhelmed doctors when you are dancing on the cliff edge of physician burnout.

I want you to know something very important ...

There Is No Tunnel !
It is an illusion caused by Einstein's Insanity Trap.

As long as you keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result ... it will appear you are stuck in a long dark tunnel.  The more you do the same things over and over - the longer and darker the tunnel becomes. Your energy, drive and hope are drained and you wonder whether things will ever get better.

Let me show how this mind trick keeps us all stuck and some specific steps you can take to shatter this Tunnel Illusion and free yourself.

Change is difficult, grinding work for most people - physicians are no exception. This hole in the sidewalk may make it easier for you this week.

I suspect you will get an "AHA" here that can result in a permanent shift in your attitude and ability to make changes in your life. The poem below is that powerful for many people. It all has to do with that big hole in the sidewalk.