This mornings headlines in my InBox were dominated by a pair of suicides - one ER Doctor and one newly graduated EMT

Dr. Lorna M. Breen, the medical director of the emergency department at NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.

FDNY EMT John Mondello, 23, graduated from the EMS academy in early February and worked with the Tactical Response Group in the Bronx

This is a heartbreaking loss. Tragic to an extreme.

It is one thing to die doing what you love ...

It is another to die from your own hand, because the pain of doing what you love is too much to bear.

A Lightworker's burden ... may they both rest in peace.

This highlights the need raise our "I've got your back" caring for team mates to a whole new level. Time to step up.

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We know three things for sure:

Once we have released the beast of Coronavirus, under what circumstances would you expect local/state/federal officials to re-institute social distancing??

Governors all over the USA are relaxing social distancing restrictions and definitions of what is and is not an essential business. The biggest fear is reigniting the pandemic and flooding the local healthcare system with critically ill patients.

Fee For Service Payment Dark Side = Massive Healthcare Industry Financial Losses in the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Perfect Storm - is this the Beginning of the End of Fee-For-Service Medicine in the USA?

There are MASSIVE LOSSES across the board for every healthcare delivery organization I am talking with - for weeks now.

The Mayo Clinic announcement of a projected $3 Billion 2020 loss was the first specific warning from an otherwise stable provider organization.

$100M in bailout payments to Baylor Scott and White and other Texas hospital systems is just the next in a long line of bad news for healthcare over the next 18 months.

Will this catastrophe force significant changes in the way healthcare is paid for in the USA?

The worldwide pandemic of coronavirus is a disaster with multiple layers of crushing impact

It is nearly impossible to fathom the magnitude of the devastation. BAD on top of BAD on top of BAD, like a layer cake made of fresh manure -- and you and I and everyone else has to chew and swallow a nice big slice every week for long as it takes to reach the other side.

Hey Physicians! How much do you LOVE seeing patients in virtual visits from your HOME Computer - rather than from your office/hospital work station??

In our monthly Physicians on Purpose community support call last night, we brainstormed our list of positives.

Here's what we have so far:

• No commute
• Sleep in later 
• Get outside
• Pets stopping by to say hello
• Eat better
• Have time for short meditation
• Less interruptions by staff
• Able to think in complete thoughts and sentences
• Better control over your home environment

Pandemic Medicine is Clearly More Dangerous than Battlefield Medicine to Front Line Healthcare Workers

1) Battlefield/MASH Unit:

• The danger is the enemy.
• You have specific skilled, trained and equipped people around you to protect you.
• The act of caring for patients is not dangerous for you.
• Your family is safe and far away.

2) Pandemic:

• The danger is the patients.
• Just being in the same room with them (never mind touching and treating them), especially without sufficient PPE, is an act of service that can ultimately be fatal.
• Your family is in clear and present danger as well.
• In Italy, 10% of the Covid-19 cases have been healthcare workers!
  
  

No Comparison ... so please Stop the Battlefield Analogies!!

Attention Senior Healthcare Leaders - your personal leadership response to this COVID-19 crisis will lock in the culture of your teams for the next 5 years.

• The tail is long
• The time for leadership is now
• How are you showing up?

When the pandemic forces your people to strap on their PPE for each shift, putting themselves at daily risk in order to serve the sick and dying - they are watching for any signs that someone has their back. 

If we polled them ...
... how do you think your people would rate the quality of your crisis leadership, on a 0 -10 scale?

Seattle, Washington Friday, March 27th, 2020

Here in Phase One of the COVID-19 Pandemic, I have been in touch with dozens of doctors and leaders in our network.

Things are stressed, chaotic, disjointed weird, dangerous, unique and confusing ... and all of us know this will be a prolonged siege rather than a two week skirmish.  

We are all beginning to realize the depth of the transition we are facing.

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This is Blog Post #324
Complete Blog Library  is Here
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There will be no returning to NORMAL here. If you think we will be back to the good old days of "the way things were last year" at some point in the future ... let me be the first to gently show you that is not going to happen.

Unfortunately the NEW NORMAL is still unformed, unclear and swirling in the midst of the acute crisis.

What does this mean for you personally, for your family, your practice, your career?

Great questions ... with embryonic answers beginning to emerge.

Let's get together and talk about it all.

I will be holding drop in group coaching hours on Saturday and Sunday from 9 - 11 AM Pacific Time here in the USA.

No cost
No obligation
A group conversation within our TheHappyMD community

Thank You and Two Powerful Self Care Tools for Physicians seeing patients this week in the Covid-19 Pandemic

Two quick and powerful tools from our coaching practice show you how to take great care of yourself between shifts - things that allow you to rise above the programming of our medical education in your hours of greatest need. AND ... 

Thank you
Thank you
Thank you!!

If you need support right now:

• Contact us using this web form
• Or book a no cost Discovery Session with one of our physician burnout coaches at this link.
• Here is the link to the blog post on "the Lightworker's Dilemma"

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"Circle the wagons"

"All power to the shields"

In times of crisis, these two phrases come in handy as sterling advice for all of us ... especially when you are a physician at the tip of the spear in the response to a global pandemic.

When times get tough, demand peaks and we struggle to keep up with the amplified whirlwind of being a doctor  --  priorities change and lots of things will get crossed off your calendar that used to seem so important before Coronavirus escaped containment. 

My advice?

Cone your focus down to just two points.

1) When you are with your patients, take great care of them and get your charts done.

2) When you are NOT with your patients ... 

• Grab your team - those you work closest with.
• Grab your family and loved ones.
• Look in the mirror and check on how you are holding up

Then circle your wagons and apply all remaining power to the shields (Star Trek style) -- to thank, protect, recharge, feed and nurture - you, your family and your team with any time and energy that is left.