Category: Uncategorized

UK Primary Care Burnout Story

A primary care burnout story

If there was one thing that helped me deal with my own burnout, it was hearing another General Practitioner (GP) stand up in front of a lecture theatre of 200 people and say that they had been burned out too. 

Trauma hospital ER

The trauma of medicine

The life of a physician is one of the most stressful professions. In this article, I’ll discuss the trauma of medicine and what can be done about it.

First day as a doctor

My first day as a doctor

“Welcome to the Trauma Surgery Unit” said Prof. “As it’s New Year’s Day we’re expecting a quiet one.” Prof’s sense of irony (i.e. sarcasm) was legendary. That night (first shift) a young man came in. “Stabbed chest. Resus!” came over the PA system, and everyone moved.

Physician shame help-aversion

Physician shame, help-aversion, et al.

You should know: shame is a very, very bad master. And shame does not deserve your respect, because shame is a liar. Shame is also a huge problem in medicine.

how to get sober if you’re addicted to medicine

How to get sober if you’re addicted to medicine

In Part 1, we made the case that a career in modern medicine meets the diagnostic criteria for addiction. Medicine can be unhealthy, yet we carry on or feel unable to make healthy changes. In Part 2, we explore how to get sober if you’re addicted to medicine.

addicted to medicine

Addicted to medicine

Are physicians addicted to medicine? in this article I will argue that medicine can be so intoxicating, even if it’s bad for us, that doctors can become addicted to it. Before too long, a medical life becomes a way of life until we don’t know any different.

physician rehab

Empathy in recovery part two: Rehab and beyond

“For the first time in ages, I didn’t feel alone anymore that night. Despite the craziness that had happened in the days prior, I felt calm.

In this, our second Guest Physician blog by Dr Henry Harris, surgeon, alcoholic in recovery, and proudly Approved Physicians Anonymous Mentor, Dr Harris shares his experience of rehab as an alcoholic physician.

alcoholic physician

Empathy in recovery part one: Downward spiral

In the months before my rock bottom, it felt like there wasn’t a soul around for me to explain how I was feeling.

I had alienated almost all people from my life.

Me slowing dying and I was forgotten in triage.

normalize physician mental health

A charter to normalize physician mental health

Imagine a world where no doctor needed to fear sanctions or discrimination for struggling mentally, particularly when the modern practice of medicine is so fraught with conditions causing moral distress. Here’s how to normalize physician mental health.