Physician Burnout Quotes

They remained imprisoned in the CICU, kept alive in physicality by mechanical devices and medicinal support, inexorably suffering. I revered their resiliency, though I struggled to understand whether they were truly resilient or if this was a descriptive term I used to assure myself that what we were doing was just. Could they merely represent physical beings at this point, molecular derivatives of carbon and water, void of souls that had moved on months prior once the universe had delivered their inevitable fate, simply kept alive by us physicians, who ourselves clutched desperately to the most favored of our prehistoric binary measures of success: life?

Burnout also leads to a large swath of physicians who aren't as empathetic toward their patients as they could be.

highly motivated and mission-driven professionals are working in toxic work environments in which they are unable to succeed.

Burnout is a war that must be won on two fronts.

The professional ideal of “detached concern” among medical practitioners represents this blend of closeness and distance.1 Many physicians believe it is a prerequisite for effective patient care. But, much like oil and water, detachment and concern do not mix easily.

How the sadness is handled by the physician has a powerful impact on the medical care received by the patients. If the grief is relentlessly suppressed--as in Eva's experience during residency--the result can be a numb physician who is unable to invest in a new patient. This lack of investment can lead to rote medical care--impersonal at best, shoddy at worst. At the other end of the spectrum is the doctor who is inundated with grief and can't function because of the overwhelming sorrow. Burnout is significant in both these cases, and that erodes the quality of medical care.

strong desire to continue being caregivers and their simultaneous desperation to leave.

The combination of these Names in repetition helps to protect you from your own spiritual greed or desire, and to protect you from going too high too fast when you are not prepared. Repetition of Ya Khafid may also be an antidote for spiritual burnout, especially when a person feels that spiritual practices are not working to change their condition.

A fascinating part of physician burnout is that without realizing it we can find ourselves stuck in a Groundhog Day–like pattern.

With mindfulness, we are training ourselves to become the master of our minds, a skill that is especially important for physicians.