Our stories

Social connection for physician burnout

Social connection for physician burnout

Social connection is good for us. Loss of social connection is a major causative factor in physician burnout. In this article we explore social connection for physician burnout, offering a number of suggestions to reach out and connect for your own wellbeing.

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Trauma in medical training

The Trauma of Medical Training

“We lost him”. The surgical resident whispered it under his breath, stepping away from the trauma bay. The blood on his gloves and scrubs, a dull reddish brown under fluorescent lights, told the story of a 12-hour shift spent fighting battles he often lost.

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contemplative female physician letting go

Letting Go For Physicians

We all talk about the importance of letting go, but they are very few of us that can actually do it well. Perhaps being human makes it so hard.

Yet it is when we let go that things begin to move and what we’ve been hoping and wishing for comes in alignment.

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Peer support for physician burnout

Peer support for physician burnout

There has never been a more urgent need to combat, or ideally prevent, physician burnout, mental illness, and suicide. In this article, we explore a number of peer support programs and summarize the key elements required to develop safe and supportive spaces for the unique needs of physicians at risk of burning out.

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Sir Dominic Corrigan was so busy 180 years ago that he had a “secret door” made in his consulting room to escape his eager patients.

Corrigan’s Secret Door and Other Stories

If you’ve not heard of Corrigan’s Secret Door, you’re in for a treat. Based on a legendary Irish physician, the Secret Door denotes a metaphorical escape route for busy physicians from their hectic clinics.

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Fear: of disclosure, losing my license, and losing face. This is my physician burnout story as a founder of Physicians Anonymous.

A Physician Burnout Story (Part 1)

My career and life crashed to a halt after 25 years in clinical medicine. I was at one point “suicidal with planning and intent”. Medical knowledge in the hands of a suicidal physician can be deadly. As an affluent, respected physician, confident in my position, well-liked and admired by society, yet suffering inside, why did I not seek help?

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physicians seek help

Why don’t physicians seek help?

Physicians are sick, and it’s getting worse. Yet too few doctors seek help or reach out when we are struggling. Record numbers of us are burning out, becoming mentally ill or addicted, retiring early, and leaving medicine.

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Effective physician resilience programs

Effective Physician Resilience Programs: what works?

In this article, Part 2, I concede that there are some excellent principles differentiating ineffective from effective physician resilience programs. We hope that colleagues and medical leaders designing such programs will find the guidance useful, and further grasp the nettle of addressing the root causes of physician burnout.

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Sick physician portrait 2024

Sick physicians – sick system

Practicing medicine is making us physicians sick. Physicians in the US have some of the highest burnout, mental illness, addiction, and suicide rates in the world. Medical student and physician burnout and suicide are a “silent epidemic”.

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Good enough physicians

The “Good Enough Doctor”: Rx for physician well-being?

Modern medicine is no stranger to the toxic trio of burnout, stress, and dissatisfaction, and perfectionism plays the role of the puppet master. It’s time to swap the scalpel for a mirror and reflect. Bowlby’s framework challenges physicians to redefine excellence, shifting from unattainable perfection to a sustainable “good enough” approach.

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perfectionist-physician

The Perfectionism Plague in Medicine

My biggest fear in medicine is messing up. Inevitably, it happens. And while we rightly are trained to reflect, detect and learn from errors, improve practice, and ultimately save lives, the flip side – the cost of excessive perfectionism – can be very high, especially on physician well-being.

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death-disease-2

Death and disease (2)

In Part 2, guest writer Dr Bryce Bowers has to move from losing a young patient under tragic circumstances onto another young patient without a moment to breathe.

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Death and disease

Death and disease (1)

“Trauma 1!” I heard them yell. “Let’s go! Let’s go!”
I stood. Frozen. Trying to process all that was going on.

Then I felt a large palm on the upper part of my back.

“Come on, kid. It’s your time to shine”.

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Physician therapy

To therapy or not to therapy? That is the question for physicians

The demanding nature of modern medicine places physicians under significant stress and strain, prompting a growing interest in the benefits of therapy to help them navigate the complexities of their profession. Engaging in proactive therapy can offer physicians a unique opportunity to enhance their insight, manage stress, and foster emotional well-being. However, like any intervention, it comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

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