We recently recognized Doctors’ Day, and many well intentioned people greeted their physician friends with, “Happy Doctors’ Day.” Yet, many aren\u2019t happy.\u00a0\u00a0Being a physician has always come with great sacrifice, responsibility, and burden.\u00a0\u00a0There have always been patients who\u2019ve not done as well as expected, and we\u2019ve all made mistakes because we’re human.\u00a0\u00a0Dissecting what has happened in the last 10 years would be like revisiting the cranial nerves in anatomy class, messy and confusing.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve asserted in the past, as have others, that resentment (and in some cases remorse) is a key negative emotion that drives burnout.\u00a0\u00a0The more a person resents the things they’ve done or are doing, the more likely burnout is to occur.\u00a0\u00a0There are 2 buckets of resentment: 1) doing stuff you don’t want to, and 2) not doing stuff you do want to. I’ve always surmised it’s the latter that really matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the case of today\u2019s physician, many feel like they aren\u2019t getting to those important things they want to do because of things they\u2019re required to do, which they feel don\u2019t add value.\u00a0 Spending time with family and friends, attending to human responsibilities outside of work, and having a hobby or two are among the things many aren’t getting to do. Yet, I think there is more to the story.\u00a0\u00a0The value physicians are getting out of their core work has lessened, creating an imbalance hard to overcome. Endless work that never seems to get done without joy is a bad combination.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some it might be a financial issue, meaning their purchasing power isn\u2019t what they expected, and yet they feel like they\u2019re working harder than expected.\u00a0 Fair enough, but I know plenty of 2 doctor families who have more money than 99% of the population and burnout still occurs. Perhaps for some there is a expectation that there be more outward recognition for their work from those in charge or even from their own team members. I’ve learned as a leader, that just like compensation, the impact of saying thank you, is fleeting. I don’t buy that these two things, financial and recognition, are major sources of burnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps more importantly, the joy of working with and helping patients and their families has diminished. The reasons for this are complex and likely vary from physician to physician.\u00a0\u00a0This lack of appreciation appears in multiple forms such as less than stellar patient satisfaction scores, patient complaints sometimes expressed in social media, misplaced anger and blame directed at the physician, a sense of entitlement, a cultural hubris of \u201cwell, I know\u2026 everything, everywhere all at once.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Or just a lessening of smiles and thank you in general.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not easy sacrificing so much and thinking no one appreciates your efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The workplace has changed as well. Relationships are important to physicians, and work place relationships have been strained. Respect from health care colleagues for what physicians do and the burdens they carry has diminished. There are many systems issues that need to be fixed and although there are some changes happening, they’re small. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although this won’t help, I still say, “Thank you.” Thank you to all physicians for choosing to take on the sacrifices, the responsibilities, the burdens of being a physician.\u00a0\u00a0Thank you for devoting your professional lives to helping people.\u00a0\u00a0Thank you for being caring and compassionate despite all the challenges and non-value added tasks.\u00a0\u00a0For those who provide health care to children, the children are why we do this, and the difference you\u2019re making in their lives is immeasurable, priceless as they say, and far above anything else.\u00a0\u00a0Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We recently recognized Doctors’ Day, and many well intentioned people greeted their physician friends with, “Happy Doctors’ Day.” Yet, many aren\u2019t happy.\u00a0\u00a0Being a physician has always come with great sacrifice, responsibility, and burden.\u00a0\u00a0There have always been patients who\u2019ve not done as well as expected, and we\u2019ve all made mistakes because we’re human.\u00a0\u00a0Dissecting what has happened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}