Focus on Physicians:
Insights, Ideas, and Strategies
This is a difficult story for me to tell. It is about facing our humanity and our mortality as physicians. And it’s about the truth that despite our desire to view ourselves as insiders with the keys to the hospital doors, the pact that we have made is one-sided. There is no covenant with the universe, no deal with the devil that if you save others, you yourself will be saved. I saw my physician father fall victim to this implicit belief after he became ill. I witnessed with sorrow his misplaced trust that he would be treated differently, and his difficulty in disengaging from his identity as a physician.with an idea.
“The wound is the place where the light enters you.”- Rumi
With over 60% of physicians surveyed reporting burnout in 2021, it’s an epidemic in our profession.
Burnout is not a personal failing or a psychological illness. Rather, burnout is a response to chronic workplace-related stress.
But burnout is not a failure of compassion. In fact, burnout may be a natural reaction to the recognition that you are unable to provide the compassionate care that your patients need.
No matter where you are in your professional arc, the “future self” exercise is a powerful tool for envisioning and then creating a meaningful retirement. In this article, we’ll explore how you can use this exercise to develop and align your retirement plans with your personal values, dreams, and aspirations.
When you’re a physician, it can sometimes feel as if the weight of the world is on your shoulders. Despite years of training and experience, dealing with the unexpected is part of the job.
Complex decisions with no easy solution, challenging interactions with patients and family, and outcomes that don’t always turn out as planned: these are unavoidable facts of life for most physicians.
Although you may thrive on the challenge of the unexpected, seemingly lost opportunities or unanticipated consequences may lead to feelings of regret that can haunt you when you least expect it.
This is completely normal, but coming to terms with regret can be difficult. What can make it especially painful is the fact that this aspect of professional life is rarely discussed out in the open.
In this article, we’ll talk about regret, what it can teach you, and how it might help you to become an even more effective physician.
If you’re considering investing in physician coaching, you probably want to know what you will actually have to show for it when your coaching arc is complete.
Will there be a written plan? Goals? Metrics? Accountability? Practical strategies? Or will coaching mainly consist of talking through problems and reflecting on what comes up?
These are reasonable questions, and they’re the questions that prospective clients often ask me.
As a photographer, a physician, and a Visual Thinking Strategies facilitator, I believe that visual art is a portal through which we may discover find powerful connections with people from all walks of life.
For physicians and others in healthcare, art provides a framework to build understanding and create greater trust, even when we have no background in the artistic process or history. When we spend time with a work of art, we’re offered a chance to explore what the world might mean to somebody from a different time, place, or culture.
In this article, I’ll explore Wu Zhen’s The Fisherman, and the lessons it offers for medical practice.
It was a thrill to appear on the legendary cardiologist Dr. Bill Lombardi’s podcast The Journey to Better. I was honored to be invited onto the show to discuss mindfulness, goal setting, and combating burnout.
As a physician coach, I am often asked to explain the difference between coaching and mentoring.
The main difference is this: A mentor generally acts as an advisor. A coach does not give you the answers, but will collaborate with you to help you find and follow your own path.
Meditation is a hot topic with deep roots, but sometimes it feels like it’s being pushed as a modern-day cure-all for what ails the spirit.
The practice is often touted as an antidote to burnout, when in truth most of us know that a meditation app won’t solve the systemic issues that plague healthcare today.
That’s why it’s exciting that academic researchers have been taking this ancient practice seriously. And they are discovering that meditation can often have powerful and measurable benefits for your mental well-being, your memory, and even your physical health.
For many physicians, the electronic health record (EHR) inbox is treated as “light work.”
A message from a worried patient. A lab result. A radiology report to review. Something you’re expected to squeeze in between patients, or finish at the end of the day.
But if you’ve ever sat down to thoughtfully review a complex lab trend, interpret an imaging report in context, or respond to a nuanced patient message, you know this is not light work.
In many cases, it’s exactly what productivity expert Cal Newport would call deep work.
If you’re just getting started in practice, or beginning a new role, it’s important to set yourself up for success from the very beginning. Whether your career path is in academic medicine, a large healthcare system, or a private practice, the habits and systems you develop early on can shape both your professional trajectory and your personal well-being for years to come
In this article, we’ll focus on five key areas that will help you provide the best care while managing the demands of a busy practice. Developing these strategies early on can improve both patient outcomes and your own well-being.
I was honored to be featured recently in a Medscape article discussing one of the greatest challenges facing physicians today: constant interruption and fragmented attention.
Physicians are expected to manage complex cognitive work while navigating inboxes, notifications, documentation demands, and frequent disruptions. But fragmented attention can have serious consequences, not only for physician well-being, but also for patient care.
In my recent conversation with Kevin Pho, M.D we discussed how mindfulness can have far-reaching effects not only for physicians, but for those you we care for. We also discussed the best times for meditation, when you might want to avoid it, and how a brief meditation can impact your sense of well-being.
As a physician coach, I love sharing this story, because it encapsulates how such a simple and brief practice can have a meaningful impact.
When I learned about the concept of “sunk cost”, I felt as if a giant lightbulb had clicked on in my head. The term, borrowed from economics, refers to our tendency to keep doing something that is not in our best interest due to expenses that have already been paid and are not recoverable. These compounded investments of time, energy, and capital can influence your decision making for years to come, leading to choices, both professional and personal, that are increasingly disconnected from your goals and values.
Meditation has numerous benefits for physicians, but there are also a few drawbacks that are not often discussed. With widespread recommendations for meditation and meditation apps, it’s important to keep in mind that meditation is not for everyone. Potential downsides include worsening of anxiety, insomnia, rumination, and physical discomfort. . By starting with shorter sessions, being mindful of any arising emotions or negative feelings, and ensuring a comfortable posture, you can minimize risks.
What a pleasure it was to meet with Matt Huey of the Enlightened Anatomy Podcast! Matt and his partner, Andrew McGonigle, have created a community that is focused on evidence-based yoga teaching. As a yoga teacher myself, and a yoga practitioner for nearly 30 years, this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.
We talked about the ways that yoga, mindfulness, and heart health connect, and how you can put this into practice.
We also touched on the importance of knowing where health information comes from, and how misinformation, often from social media, can lead to mistrust of physicians and fuel physician burnout.
With the rise of EHRs and telemedicine, the term "work-life integration" rapidly has become an administrative buzzword. However, for physicians who are expected to be always on duty, this approach can paradoxically increase stress and decrease balance.
In this article, I’ll explore why work-life integration might not be the promised panacea for getting it all done.
It’s no surprise that nationwide, levels of burnout reached record highs during the pandemic. But now that we are back to a semblance of normal, the percentage of physicians experiencing burnout symptoms still hovers a little under 50 percent-- far above the “baseline” of 38 percent in 2020. In this article, you'll learn how to know if you are burned out. And we'll go over the costs of burnout in both dollars and patient care.
There comes a point for many physicians when troublesome questions begins to surface:
Can I continue practicing in this way?
What needs to change to make my practice more sustainable?
Is it time to move on?
Is there another way to use my skills, knowledge, and gifts that I haven’t yet imagined?
These are not questions that yield easily to analysis. In fact, thinking harder often makes them more painful. Instead of finding clarity, you may begin to feel more uneasy, more torn, caught in a whirlwind and afraid of making the wrong choice.
This is a good time to tap into your inner wisdom, and this is where journaling can help.
The "have, do, be" concept is a way of thinking about how we relate to the world around us. According to this framework, it’s easy to build our lives around the belief that our possessions, actions, or achievements will make us happy or fulfilled.
But in truth this way of thinking can actually hold physicians back from achieving their dreams.
Instead, you can flip the switch by reflecting on who you want to be right now.
Creating a realistic and actionable To-Do list can feel like a daunting task for a busy physician. But your To-Do list can free up hours of your valuable time, create structure out of chaos, and help you to reach goals that will bring you closer to your ideal life.
In this article, I share twelve actionable and realistic tips that will help you to develop your own sustainable To-Do List practice.
It was a thrill to interview Amit Phull of Doximity for the latest TechLink Health podcast! I’ve been using Doximity since its early days, and have seen it evolve from a must-have resource into a trusted ally in healthcare.
Lately, Doximity has ventured into AI with the integrity and transparency that physicians have come to expect from this trail-blazing company. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
Medical writing is a fantastic way to clarify your position, share information, and get in front of a larger audience than you might otherwise find. It’s also a way to deepen your own knowledge base. Writing can open doors to other opportunities that you may never have considered. In this article, I’ll tell you about not only the professional benefits of medical writing for the public, but also the nuts and bolts of the process. If you've ever wondered how to become a medical writer, what to expect, and how to get published, you'll find useful information here.
As a cardiologist, a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, and a yoga teacher, I’ve been fortunate to learn from a diverse group of mentors, ranging from world leaders in cardiology to a former Buddhist monk. I learned about the power of meditation early on in my professional life and found that the presence and equanimity it cultivated inspired both my medical practice and my life outside of medicine.
You don’t need a guru or even a class to learn how to meditate. In this article, I’m sharing some simple ways that you can get started with meditation.
I had another fascinating conversation with James Nutter of IM Wealth on his podcast A Life Well Lived: A Physician's Guide to Wealth. We talked about the ways that living out of alignment with your personal values can lead to burnout, disappointment, and disengagement.
Giving name to your values breathes life into them. It helps you to develop goals and plans that are realistic, purposeful, and personally fulfilling. And naming values that you share with your spouse or loved ones can also help to connect you more deeply to the life you are living now and the future you are dreaming of.
Attention residue happens when you switch tasks, but a part of your mind remains stuck on the previous task. The little breadcrumbs that remain can significantly decrease your cognitive performance and make it harder to focus. And once you’re interrupted, no matter whether the issue was urgent or trivial, it’s easy to switch over into another unrelated brain drain, such as checking your email or social media, rather than returning to the task at hand.
In this article, we’ll explore strategies that you can use to retake control of your mental focus, manage interruptions, and minimize attention residue in your daily practice.
It was such a privilege to interview Oscar winner and innovator Garrett Brown for the TechLink Health podcast! Garrett is best known as the inventor of the Steadicam, which transformed film production, and the SkyCam, which forever changed how we experience live sports. He is also the co-founder of Exokinetics, an innovative technology company dedicated to restoring mobility and independence for people whose options are often limited to walkers or wheelchairs.
Exokinetics’ flagship product, the Zeen enables upright mobility and provides assistance with transitions such as sitting to standing, allowing for face-to-face social interaction, which can be profoundly life-changing.
The time-priority matrix (also known as the Eisenhower Matrix) is a simple visual tool that helps you sort tasks by urgency and importance so you can spend your energy where it matters most. This tool is especially valuable for busy physicians who are constantly pressed for time.
Simply put, outcome goals are the big results you want to achieve. And process goals are the small and meaningful steps you take to achieve those larger goals. These are the actions and behaviors that are within your control. So how do you get started with creating your own process goals? In this article, I’ll walk you through the process. As the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Think of each process goal as one of those single steps.
Perfectionism can be a powerful force for excellence, but it can just as easily become a trap. When “not good enough” feels unbearable, procrastination often becomes a way to escape the discomfort. In this article, I’ll give you a set of practical tools to help you work with your perfectionism, not against it, so you can take action with less pressure and more confidence.
My Podcast Interview with Health Tech Expert Shanil Ebrahim
Shanil Ebrahim is on the cutting edge of healthcare technology, with expertise not only as a scientist but also with meaningful experience in the fields of AI and health equity. His insights are timely and thought provoking.
Shanil Ebrahim is on the cutting edge of healthcare technology, with expertise not only as a scientist but also with meaningful experience in the fields of AI and health equity. His insights are timely and thought provoking.
As a frequent host of the TechLink Health podcast, it's always such a pleasure and a privilege to meet with leading innovators in the health and tech space. The industry is moving at warp speed, and it's great to have a front row seat!
You can listen to the podcast at TechLink Health as well as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.