This timeless wisdom from The House of God was quoted to me by a resident on my first ER rotation

I think it applies to the news in all the headlines about the new OMICRON Variant of the COVID-19 virus.

It is 11/28/2021 as I write this. Omicron and the travel and nation-level shutdowns it immediately inspired, have dominated headlines across the world for the last 48 hours. We thought we had Delta in the rear view mirror and now this.

Hang on a second. What is that first step again?

Carpe Diem does not translate to SEIZE the Day 

The word Carpe does not mean snatch or grab or wrestle to the ground and hold on tight. 

This is such an important question that only you can answer.

• You started this journey at the Lightworker's Fork in the Road when you made the extraordinary choice to go to medical school.
  
  
• Survived the 7 - 16 years of the medical education process.
  
  
• Have practiced the craft of a helper and healer to the best of your ability, despite EMR and all the other distractions of the Whirlwind of your practice.

Yet, when it comes to the final chapter of a physician's life, most of us play a perpetual game of "kick the can down the road". With 45% of US Physicians age 55 and older - a total of nearly 420,000 doctors in all - this should be one of the most common topics of discussion between doctors. We both know it is not!

"the worst U.S. health-care labor crisis in memory"

The Healthcare Staffing Crisis Hit the Front Page at Bloomberg this week.

Here in what we hope are the waning days of the Delta Surge in COVID, there is so much physician stress, burnout and pessimism in the USA.

We talk with hundreds of physicians and physician leaders each week. Starting about a month ago ... despair, true fear about the future of your practice and a clear deer in the headlights quality started to color these conversations - for obvious reasons.

New Resources to Prevent Physician Suicide from a Powerful New Coalition - Please Download and Share

Physician Suicide Awareness Day is September 17th, 2021

What could be worse than COVID 19 Wave Four in a State with a 41% vaccination rate?

How about a Cat 4 Hurricane slapped right across your face at the very same time.

My biggest fear is that this one-two punch will destroy the healthcare delivery system in New Orleans, the state of Louisiana and any other state in IDA's path.

The buildings may remain standing, my concern is the will of the people in the front lines.

The business mantra about the pandemic goes like this:
COVID didn't change anything, it just dramatically accelerated what was already going to happen.

An example from healthcare is virtual/digital doctor visits. They were always going to become more common/popular. COVID birthed a whole new virtual medicine function and drove 5 years worth of innovation in organizations nation-wide ... in just 60 days. 

New Survey shows patients can see, feel and empathize with the obvious burnout in their caregivers.

You know the elephant in the room, right?

Something shameful, dark, inconsistent, embarrassing, even damaging -- something everyone knows is everywhere all the time and we all secretly agree never to point it out or talk about it.

The first rule of burnout is to never talk about burnout (amongst ourselves).

What about the patients and their family members? They are not sworn to our code of silence.

All the same, when the Elephant in the Room is Physician Burnout - we REALLY don't want the patients or their family members to notice or speak of it either.

Is it possible to effectively hide stress, fatigue, overwhelm and burnout from our patients?