COVID-19 Physician Leadership - Put This System In Place Now!

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

When the battle against the virus is raging in the ER and the ICU ...

It's all hands on deck
All power to the shields
Throw everything you've got to the front lines

And rightfully so.

That is not enough!

Staffing and supporting the front line care teams is job #1 everywhere and
we can't forget the members of those care teams who are not here today

I am not talking about the workers who are simply off shift right now. Let me show you this physician leadership blind spot.

Tags: Physician Leadership, stop physician burnout

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Micro Blessings

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Micro Blessings

Let's restore some balance to the force with a hidden super power that is just a breath away.

Since everyone's days are sprinkled with micro-aggressions, hassles, social isolation, masks, political conflict and more - it can feel like you are only just barely keeping your lips above the floodwaters. 

It's been a tough year for all of us and there is no end in sight
... AND ...
do not forget you have a choice.
In every moment you have the ability to notice the negative, release it and swim against that current. 

Our reticular activating system and our physician programming give us a natural laser focus on what is going wrong. We are also surrounded by things going right at the very same time.

Tags: stop physician burnout, physician mindfulness

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Physician Leadership – 3 Reasons Doctors Make Naturally Lousy Leaders

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Physician Leadership Skills – Why Doctors Make Poor Leaders and What YOU Can Do About It

In ten years of coaching physicians, I have found one thing to be constant.

All physicians work too hard.

We take on too much, do too much, worry about too much try to control too much. This overwork is a key cause of physician burnout and a direct result of our medical education.

The reason is simple. You were never taught how to lead your team effectively. Key leadership skills never made into the curriculum of your medical education.

As a result, we naturally and automatically fail to tap our team's skills and experience. We block them from sharing the workload more effectively. 

Fortunately, the leadership skills to share the load are simple and can be quickly deployed in your practice day.

Here are three ways to begin your leadership upgrade.

Tags: Physician Leadership, stop physician burnout, physician communication skills

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Stop Physician Burnout - 6 Levels of Practice-Life Integration

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Stop physician burnout - understand the six levels of integration between your life and your practice

  • You are Not Your Practice.
  • Your Practice is Not You.
  • You are in a Relationship - an intricate dance with a long and dysfunctional history.

When you recognize the nature of your relationship with your practice - and begin to actively manage it - physician burnout becomes far less likely. 

Many physicians are FUSED with their practice.

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Tragically this learned behavior puts you, your career and your family at risk.

Tags: stop physician burnout

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Physician Leadership - Trust versus Performance by Simon Sinek

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Physician Leadership - Trust vs. Performance on your Teams

Looking to build a high performing team?
Will it have physicians on it?
Let me show you a simple way to build a better team and understand the team's performance - good, bad and ugly.

Here is a video by leadership expert Simon Sinek that reveals how a military elite team picks its members - the Navy Seals. I believe the simple two-part lesson in this video is key to understanding physician behavior on teams as well. 

He asked the question:

"How do you choose people that go on Seal Team 6?"

Tags: Physician Leadership

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Can a wearable device diagnose Physician Burnout?

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Can a wearable medical device diagnose physician burnout in real time?

Seems like a legitimate question right? And a wearable device is so much more scientific, high tech and sexy than your attending asking you how you are doing today ... right? 

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine are getting ready to start a trial with a wristband wearable medical device - to see if it can diagnose burnout in internal medicine residents. 

Let's lift up the hood and examine the details of this study protocol released this week. Does it make sense? Could it make a difference?

Tags: stop physician burnout

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Physician Burnout Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Several times a month reporters and writers ask me questions about physician burnout. 

Many times they are the same questions -  natural, logical, seemingly simple questions about burnout in physicians.

It does make sense that they would ask me in particular. I have ten years, 175 organizations and over 40,000 doctors experience in coaching and training people to recognize and prevent physician burnout.

With that background many reporters think I can rattle off the answers in a way that wraps a bow on the whole issue.  They don't understand two key points.

Tags: Physician Burnout, stop physician burnout

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Work Life Balance for Physicians – Three Steps to Saying NO with Elegance and Grace

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Work Life Balance for Doctors – the Power of a Positive “NO”

Choosing to go to medical school and become a Physician is a lot like inviting an 800 pound gorilla to be a permanent house guest. Gorillas are big, take up a lot of space, eat all your food and are not house trained … so there are messes to clean up every week.

Your quality of life - for you and your family - will depend in large part on a skill you will never learn in your medical education; how to say the two letter magic word of life balance. That word is "NO".

In this blog post, let me teach you when, where and how to say, "NO" with some elegance and grace.

Tags: stop physician burnout, physician work life balance, physician communication skills

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Physician Burnout and COVID-19 Stress Survey - 3 Takeaways

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Become an Effective Physician Wellness Champion
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Back in the good old days - March of this year - recall that physician burnout rates had been hovering in the 40% range for  years.

And along comes the Corona. We all feel the additional stress of the current Pandemic chaos - each in our own way.

And physicians being scientists at heart, you may have asked, "is there any research on COVID-19 impact on the pre-existing burnout epidemic in physicians ?"

With some recent article/study releases the answer is now "Yes".

Tags: Physician Burnout, Pandemic

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Stop Physician Burnout - the Pandemic Profit Crater & the Sine Wave Delusion

Posted by Dike Drummond MD

Let me show you a classic bean counter leadership delusion that is already increasing front-line physician burnout here in the USA.

The Sine Wave Delusion happens when a physician leader does not understand patient care and assumes financial losses can be made up easily if we just spin the doctor hamster wheels faster. 

Tags: Physician Leadership, stop physician burnout, physician burnout video training, Pandemic

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