Physician Burnout–why now?
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010I just finished Drive-the surprising truth about what motivates us, by Daniel Pink. A good read, and helpful when looking at why we do what we do. Recently, I blogged on burnout, and the very next day our “lunch’n'learn” was about physician burnout. A lot of physicians I know are burned out, and it crosses specialties and matters little whether a physician is clinic or hospital based.
Pink states that we are motivated to do our best when we have autonomy, mastery and purpose.
Relating to the physician job, lots of us became physicians because we want to be the captain of our own ship. We like to run the show, and enjoy the stress and mind candy that comes along with doing just that. However, over the past several decades, physician autonomy has shrunk. We feel controlled by insurance companies, coding requirements, “best practices”, and patient demands. Control of our times feels as if it has gone the way of tie dye and mood rings. The very way we do our daily tasks has changed–now we must deal with an EMR that may force us into a new way of thinking that is not our own. One hospital where I work forces physicians to write notes in a APSO format–with the assessment and plan first then the subjective/objective portions. Physicians had not choice–they were told that this would make the notes easier to read on the computer.
Mastery should have come through our training during medical school and residency. Actually this was just the beginning. We now realize we can hardly keep up with the speed of change and the increasing fragmentation of specialists. We try to maintain our corner of the medical garden. Motivation comes with the attempt toward mastery–and it’s hard to improve our skills and knowledge base if we are just trying to keep up with patient flow, learning the *&%@! new EMR and filling out the right insurance forms. As students, we loved the human body, now we rarely allow ourselves to think of the majesty of how the body works and the joy we once had it helping a person toward health!
Purpose has gotten lost along with autonomy. When was the last time we really felt we were healing, caring and improving?Currently, it may feels as if we just prolong the inevitable! I became a physician with single purpose of “helping people”–really, that’s why! Too many of us have forgotten that very real reason for why we endured the years of training–because there is nothing more amazing than the mysteries of the human body.
So how do we regain our motivation–so dependent on autonomy, mastery and purpose? The answers given at our lunch and learn were trite, and not to be repeated here. I will need to think more about this and invite you to send me your thoughts.
Take a breath, have a sip of coffee, and celebrate all that you have accomplished!