Healing Physician Burnout

To Get Health System Leaders and Physicians Working Together, We Must Tackle Physician BurnoutThis is a book about physician burnout. It's also a book about physician engagement. Why? Because these two concepts are deeply connected. When physicians team up with the organizations they work for to pursue mutual goals, they are far less likely to burn out. And when organizations seek to prevent and treat physician burnout, they go a long way toward getting everyone--physicians included--working together to meet the same goals.There has never been a better time for organizations and physicians to join forces to make sure this happens. High rates of physician burnout and a rapid push toward integration demand it. And while it will surely be challenging, together we can create the right environment to facilitate massive change while keeping physicians physically, mentally, and emotionally strong. Healing Physician Burnout--written by healthcare performance expert Quint Studer in collaboration with George Ford, MD--explains how. You'll find:Evidence on why burnout is so high in physicians and why organizations should careTactics health system leaders can use to partner with physicians to help them avoid burnout--and to ensure that everyone is working toward the same goalsBurnout "red flags" leaders and physicians should watch for so that help may be provided early onPersonal profiles that tell of physicians' triumphs over burnout and showcase the passion and purpose that keep them perseveringActions physicians can take to heal their own burnout and help others to do so as wellPhysicians need understanding and empathy for the massive changes they must endure. While no one can stop the shift our industry is undergoing, we can create the kind of positive, supportive work environments that help physicians cope and, ultimately, thrive.

When we need help, we count on doctors to put us back together. But what happens when doctors fall apart? Funny, fresh, and deeply affecting, We Are All Perfectly Fine is the story of a married mother of three on the brink of personal and professional collapse who attends rehab with a twist: a meditation retreat for burned-out doctors. Jillian Horton, a general internist, has no idea what to expect during her five-day retreat at Chapin Mill, a Zen centre in upstate New York. She just knows she desperately needs a break. At first she is deeply uncomfortable with the spartan accommodations, silent meals and scheduled bonding sessions. But as the group struggles through awkward first encounters and guided meditations, something remarkable happens: world-class surgeons, psychiatrists, pediatricians and general practitioners open up and share stories about their secret guilt and grief, as well as their deep-seated fear of falling short of the expectations that define them. Jillian realizes that her struggle with burnout is not so much personal as it is the result of a larger system failure, and that compartmentalizing your most difficult emotions—a coping strategy that is drilled into doctors—is not useful unless you face these emotions too. Jillian Horton throws open a window onto the flawed system that shapes medical professionals, revealing the rarely acknowledged stresses that lead doctors to depression and suicide, and emphasizing the crucial role of compassion not only in treating others, but also in taking care of ourselves.

Physician Burnout to Your Ideal Practice is possible using this first comprehensive stress-reduction resource for practicing physicians. You can be a modern physician and have an extraordinary life when you learn and practice the tools in this book. Use this book to STOP the downward spiral of physician burnout with field-tested, doctor-approved techniques discovered through thousands of hours of one-on-one coaching with physicians facing career threatening burnout.Dr. Dike Drummond MD, CEO and founder of TheHappyMD.com will show you burnout's symptoms, effects, and complications; burnout's pathophysiology and four main causes; how to bypass the invisible doctor "Mind Trash" that gets in the way of your recovery; 14 proven burnout prevention techniques and FREE access to an additional 15 techniques on our Power Tools web page - a private resource library; and a step-by-step method to build a more Ideal Practice and a more balanced life whether or not you are suffering from burnout at the moment.

In this remarkably candid account, Dr. David Hilfiker breaks the silence surrounding the everyday practice of medicine and tells what it really feels like to be a doctor.

Dr. Frank Gabrin is a practicing emergency physician and two time cancer survivor who's frustrations and triumphs on both sides of the stethoscope have lead him to transform his medical practice and his life with just one word: care. In his first book, Back from Burnout: Seven Steps to healing from Compassion Fatigue and Rediscovering (Y)our Heart of Care, Dr. Frank Gabrin shares what he has learned is the root of the problem in healthcare today: The myth of keeping our professional distance in order to be better caregivers. In its place, Dr. Gabrin teaches us that to do better we do not need to step back, but rather we need to take a step forward and connect with the hurting human in front of us. When we take this step forward, we engage the protocol of True Care, which is what will cause us on both sides of the stethoscope to feel better. Back from Burnout gives you tools and techniques that, once understood and applied, allow you to create unlimited amounts of satisfaction for yourself, your peers and your patients by transforming your care into True Care. In doing so, you will be able to find new meaning and purpose in what it is you are already doing.

Patient-centered, high-quality health care relies on the well-being, health, and safety of health care clinicians. However, alarmingly high rates of clinician burnout in the United States are detrimental to the quality of care being provided, harmful to individuals in the workforce, and costly. It is important to take a systemic approach to address burnout that focuses on the structure, organization, and culture of health care. Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-Being builds upon two groundbreaking reports from the past twenty years, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century, which both called attention to the issues around patient safety and quality of care. This report explores the extent, consequences, and contributing factors of clinician burnout and provides a framework for a systems approach to clinician burnout and professional well-being, a research agenda to advance clinician well-being, and recommendations for the field.

​This unique, step-by-step guide offers a comprehensive exploration of burnout and physician wellbeing, a vital issue that steadily has become widely discussed in the professional and mainstream press. More than twenty chapter authors contribute to this multidimensional volume, including physicians, psychologists, researchers, healthcare administrators, chaplains, professional coaches, and counselors. Section one of the book establishes context, provides a brief overview of the phenomenon of physician burnout, establishes its validity, and makes a case for the reason it has emerged as a critical issue in American healthcare. Section two provides a rationale for healthcare institutions (hospitals, physician groups, medical associations) to make a commitment to physician wholeness, while section three then starts the process of delineating a step-by-step curriculum to address the dilemma, providing additional detail and personal experience direct from the frontlines of combatting burnout. Section four focuses on developing and sustaining a healthy professional culture that is aligned with the mission of the organization, and section five addresses the spiritual component of physician wholeness, Section six concludes the book with two personal essays that poignantly express the nature of two common experiences affecting physicians that require uncommon insight, patience, courage. Transforming the Heart of Practice is a major contribution to the literature and will serve as an invaluable resource for anyone concerned with addressing this crisis in American healthcare.

Mayo Clinic Strategies to Reduce Burnout: 12 Actions to Create the Ideal Workplace tells the story of the evolving journey of those in the medical profession. It dwells not on the story of burnout, distress, compassion fatigue, moral injury, and cognitive dissonance but rather on a narrative of hope for professional fulfillment, well-being, joy, and camaraderie. Achieving this aim requires health care professionals and administrative leaders working together to create the ideal workplace-through nurturing positivity and pushing negativity aside. The ultimate aspiration is esprit de corps-the common spirit existing in members of a group that inspires enthusiasm, devotion, loyalty, camaraderie, engagement, and strong regard for the welfare of the team and of common interests and responsibilities. Mayo Clinic Strategies to Reduce Burnout: 12 Actions to Create the Ideal Workplace provides a road map for you to create esprit de corps for your team and organization. The map is paved with information about reliable, patient-centered, and thoughtful systems embedded within psychologically safe and just cultures. The authors drew on their extensive research on the well-being of health care professionals; from their experience in quality, department operations, leadership and organization development, management, safe havens, and care teams; and from their roles as president, chief wellness officer, chief quality officer, chair, principal investigator, senior fellow, and board director.