Stop Physician Burnout - Wall Street Journal Article Insults the Plight of US Doctors

This week the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) assigned a staff writer to pen an article on physician burnout. "Hospitals Address Widespread Doctor Burnout" came out on June 9th and IMHO it would be hard to do a worse job of bringing the American public up to speed on the modern burnout epidemic.

Given that physician burnout is the single biggest threat to the health and wellbeing of both the physicians and patients - the atrocious quality of this article is an insult to the healthcare profession.

The real tragedy here is what happens when a burned out doctors sees the issue handled in this manner in the national press. It becomes even easier to give up hope, since no one appears to be taking your concerns, your exhaustion, your heartbreak - even your impulse to abandon medicine altogether - seriously.  

Don't give up just because the WSJ and this writer have never spoken to a burned out doctor and don't have the first clue what they are talking about. There is ALWAYS a way forward 
- Our coaches are always available here
- The MATRIX 2.0 is here

Reading such drivel ... on such a stage ... realizing the WSJ just totally blew an opportunity to inform the public on the nature and impact of the plague of physician burnout ... is infuriating. 

The article staggers randomly from superficial point to silly quote for just long enough to become truly annoying.

Here are the key take aways from the writers perspective. BTW, if these highlights seem lame/vapid/superficial ... you are beginning to understand just how bad this article is.

Physician suicide is the most extreme complication of physician  burnout, yet suicides often fly under the radar

Physician suicides are taboo subjects, quickly swept under the rug and subconsciously banned from civilized conversation ... until ... someone popular and famous and well-loved dies in a highly visible suicide. This week it was Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential and host of his Parts Unknown TV series. 

While the world mourns Bourdain, the natural tendency is for all of us to remember someone we lost to suicide in our own lives. For doctors, the person we remember is often a colleague. The whole issue of doctor, resident and medical student suicide gets lost in the larger conversation about the tidal wave of physician burnout. The sad truth is that physician suicide is a known complication of physician burnout and ... 

Whether you are male or female, choosing to become a doctor immediately doubles your suicide rate. 

As the world mourns the unexpected loss of Bourdain, my heart mourns for those doctors, doctors in training, nurses, EMT's and other healthcare workers who also took their lives ... the people whom only you and I remember.

Four Reminders and Action Steps to Prevent Physician Suicide in wake of this week of tragedy:

Stop Physician Burnout with the Reverse Differential Diagnosis

Doctors are trained to be diagnosis machines. You plop us down in front of a complete stranger for 10 - 15 minutes and we will diagnose the problem - and be in action to treat it - in somewhere between 5 seconds and 15 minutes. It's what we do dozens of times a day and thousands of times a year in our practice.

Stop Physician Burnout: Save a Million Clicks a Day With This One Simple Change

Every day, all over the world, physicians waste time and energy on EMR and other documentation tasks that completely obstruct our ability to provide a quality patient encounter.

I am talking about things we are forced to do on the computer that are a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME

These are computer tasks everyone knows add no value whatsoever to patient care. Their only consequence is increased stress and wasted time and energy for everyone involved.

Here is a simple - one step - inexpensive solution that will save well over a million clicks a day across the USA and instantly and permanently give every single provider back time and energy as soon as you plug the darn thing in. It really is that simple. Ready?

Quadruple Aim FAIL Diary:
How to Sabotage Your Physician Wellness Program From the Start

Healthcare's new Quadruple Aim recognizes happy, healthy patients can only come from happy healthy doctors. Quadruple Aim leaders understand that taking better care of your doctors is mandatory for successful organizations in the future.

Physician Burnout and the Brain Changes of the Eeyore Effect

Have you ever noticed how everything changes when you are exhausted, burned out or in a foul mood? Even little things get under your skin, you get stuck in traffic, spill coffee on your white shirt, forget your reading glasses ... it all happens on the same day and it is distinctly crazy-making. Have you ever experienced that?

PODCAST - The Root Causes of Physician Burnout

 Here is a podcast with the talented John Jurica MD at The VITAL Physician Executive at this link. 

We discussed:
1. The scope of our activities beyond publishing The Happy MD blog and website;
2. How the Quadruple Aim is not being realized;
3. A working definition of physician burnout;
4. How coaching has helped thousands of physicianssalvage their clinical careers;
5. Five root causes of physician burnout;
6. Three burnout myths;
7. The first steps to take to eliminate burnout.

CLICK the Play Button to Start Listening

The Battle for the Quadruple Aim - It's 3 on 1 and the Outcome Is Unclear

The Quadruple Aim is a simple, common sense concept that goes like this:

Quality patient care is based on the health and wellbeing of the human beings providing that care ... the doctors and staff. 

I know ... you are probably saying "Duh" right now. It seems like such an obvious statement of fact ... right? And it is such an obvious antidote to physician burnout.

I must admit I  had a naive assumption that this concept would take off like a rocket after the first article in Annals of Family Medicine in 2015. And it has not. 

The Quadruple Aim is actually a radical notion in the healthcare industry for three distinct reasons I will show you below.

The battle lines are drawn and the forces are in raging conflict in C-suites and Board Rooms across the globe.

Unfortunately the outcome is in doubt at this point in time.

The Patient’s Problem List is NOT a List of Problems -  - Physician Burnout is Not A Problem Either !

The beginning of all wisdom starts by calling things by their right name. ~ Confucius