I am going to make a confession. I too, along with 1000s of doctors once suffered from #burnout. During residency, I thought about quitting pretty much all the time. I burned out again through my professional life. Now, that I have overcome it, I’ll tell you what I learned. 1/
For me, the greatest contributor to burnout was fatigue. In residency it was physical combined with mental fatigue with the sense of loss of power over my own person. (That was in the ‘90s, so put it in perspective). This is pretty common among trainees. Winters were worse. 2/
Seasonal affective disorder is real and can come upon anyone, especially if one is mentally and physically tired. Additive are toxic environments leading to feelings of devaluation, disrespect, inadequacy, giving rise to insecurities and “impostor syndrome” (IS). 3/
Yes. I believe that IS is exogenous and systemic. Recognizing this allows one to overcome it. Whether you are a med student, resident, attending, or leader, observe your environment, find what is oppressive, aggressive, toxic, and change it. This takes me to the next point: 4/
The next clear contributor to #Burnout is loss of a personal sense of #PURPOSE. In my later years, whenever I felt the symptoms of burnout and depression, I could trace it to 1) toxic environments and 2) loss of my purpose. The latter can happen in multiple ways. 5/
One’s sense of purpose erodes when one’s work is devalued, biases start mounting (attribution, gender, halo, affinity, veiled or not racism, homophobia, etc), topped with systemic “thousands of paper cuts” stressors (RVU targets, EMR, inefficiencies, blame games, competition) 6/
To gain this back, we must reset out professional/personal sense of self: Who am I? Why did I do this in the first place? What are my talents? How can I put those to use? Who values my work? Can I be better? What areas can I improved? We must be kind but honest with ourselves 7/
If the environment is toxic, change it (whatever that may mean). Get back your sense of purpose. Bring back your sense of empathy, altruism, and kindness. Speak out against injustice towards you or others. Be courageous. Don’t hold grudges. Forgive, don’t forget. Find allies. 8/
In summary: I overcame my burnout by regaining a sense of control over my time; changed toxic environments; rediscovered my sense of purpose; became outspoken and unafraid; became kinder and more patient towards others; made allies, and..honestly, I slept more. Happy #DoctorsDay
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