Part 1, “Why are we burned out”

You went into this profession to make an impact. You knew that you had a gift to share with the world and wanted to make a difference in the lives of your fellow humans. Yet, after years of being a practicing clinical physician, you’ve hit a ceiling and see no opportunity for growth.

According to the Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, roughly 3 in 10 health-care workers have considered leaving their profession. More than half are burned out. And about 6 in 10 say stress from the pandemic has negatively affected their mental health. Perhaps you’re feeling this burnout as well, frustrated because you’ve exchanged bed-side interaction with screen time documenting in the EMR. Or perhaps you don’t have the autonomy you thought you would have with increasing protocols designed to maximize RVUs. Then there is school loans, credit card debt and a salary that is not quite as high as you thought it would be once taxes are paid. These topics have and continue to be thoroughly discussed so I will focus on three areas I believe are often overlooked; a stagnant career, financial pressure, and little to no self care.

1. Stagnant career

Throughout your training you were always working towards a clear goal with defined end points. In college it was pre-med classes, MCATs and applications for medical school. In medical school it was Step 1, followed by Step 2 and finally match day. Residency was a different animal with a goal to survive without destroying all your personal relationships. Now that you are an attending and have a steady job, now what? What are you working towards? What is the next big goal or hurdle? If you are like most physicians you are probably focused more on your monthly finances and less on innovation, personal growth & development.

Talk to any one of your non-medical friends in the corporate world. Every 2-3 years they are either promoted or changing departments to acquire a new skill set. A big part of their job is spent on growth and development. Either learning more about an industry or growing as a leader. Companies expend resources to grow and develop talent, but in medicine resources are spent to improve our documentation.

2. Financial Burden

When I completed my training I felt behind financially. I owed it to my wife, future family, and myself to start earning and saving for the future. I was also ready to stop living like a professional college student and felt the pressure to own a home. While I spent the last 10 plus years accumulating debt; many of my business friends had been earning salaries, contributing to their 401Ks and had the makings of a strong financial base. So naturally I had some catching up to do. So I did what many young attendings do, I worked extra shifts picking up weekend and overnight openings to pay student loans, our mortgage and to start saving.

3. No Self Care

One thing I did not make time for was myself. Due to both financial pressure and the expectation for the newer attendings to work more, I began to view off time as a cost center. Any time outside the hospital was time not spent earning. I allotted down time for family events and various social obligations. I did not however take time off for myself. I let my commute to and from work serve as my downtime, sounds silly right…

Medicine trains us to put ourselves last and tough it out. A mental or physical break is a sign of weakness. I would argue it is a sign of strenght, as Simone Biles recently said, “pause is power”.

If this resonates with you leave a comment below and consider reading part 2 of Making the Leap, “Know Thyself”