Did you know that your emotional responses to disaster have a known structure and a logical order you will find comforting?

I knew about the symptoms of physician burnout, Kubler-Ross and her stages, even stages of quitting smoking, but until today I had never been introduced to Zunin and Myers and the 6 Stages of Normal Human Emotional Response to Disaster.

This is a fascinating progression and strikes true for my experience of COVID so far. These stages are intertwined with physician burnout, PTSD and so many other normal and abnormal psychological responses to difficulty and struggle.

Do not let down your guard or relax coronavirus precautions now: Two Additional Reasons Why.

There is a glimmer of relaxing and relief going on these days. I had a few happy tears with my first shot of the Moderna vaccine. It would not surprise me if you did too. 

You may feel like you can see a light at the end of the tunnel, that we are finally nearing the end of the pandemic. 

I don't want to harsh your mellow or be a fear monger here ... AND this appears to be a logistically clear time to keep your guard up. 

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"I'm not sure how much longer I can keep going like this"
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A Sneaker Wave

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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".

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. 

[Next Workshop Starts February 1st, 2021]
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As the layers of COVID-19 chaos and disruption march through your life and practice, you have a choice on where you focus your attention.

You could play defense -- cover your eyes, nose, ears and mouth and hang on - white knuckle your way to the light at the end of the tunnel or even pray for a rescue.

If that's what you choose, inevitably someone else will draw up your new job description in the wake of the pandemic and tell you what to do - once again. 

Or

WE INVITE YOU to our next Practice Reset Online Workshop. Whether you want to tweak, reset or even escape your current practice, the chaos of 2020 and COVID-19 means there has never been a better time to get started than right now.

As we begin to reopen society, data released this week shows physician visit volumes have rebounded slightly from the bottom out in the month of April.

The burning question is will the recovery happen quickly enough to avoid an extinction event in smaller private practices?

Fee for service private practice has been hammered by declines of visit volumes of 50 - 70%. No business can withstand an assault on its top line income of this magnitude for any significant period of time.

New research shows outpatient visits appear to have bottomed out in early April and are on the rebound. The curve is upward with volumes still 30-40% below baseline volumes from January and February of this year.

Given the US healthcare system's addiction to fee for service payments, the recovery in visit volumes and income must come quickly.

If the curve does not quickly assume a V or U shape, smaller physician owned groups who cannot survived a prolonged income drop will go out of business en masse before the end of the year. Unfortunately that does not look like a U or V to me. 

Here is the latest data on US Visit volumes from a unique source that tells the whole story.

As healthcare workers, we learn, "the patient comes first" as our Prime Directive.

Tragically, this reflex impulse to dive in and help without thinking, can get us killed - especially here in the Covid19 Pandemic.

We tend to dive in where the need is the greatest, never questioning our “the patient comes first” programming.

There is a huge and necessary barrier between COVID-19 patients and their caregivers - Personal Protective Equipment - PPE

The mask, face shield, gown and gloves are completely necessary to protect the caregiver and the other patients on the ward AND they block a powerful component of a therapeutic relationship ... seeing the faces of your care team.

No smiles, frowns, looks of empathy or concern except what words and the corners of the eyes can convey ... and that is if the light is not reflecting off your visor at the time.

What can be done to humanize this life saving connection between caregiver and patient?

COVID-19 is a Worthy Adversary - We count 13 Layers of Impact that will spool out over time.

VIDEO TRAINING:

It is easy to focus on the impact of the acute disease and the early economic effects, but just wait, there is more.

Those are just two of the 13 separate layers of negative impact from this crisis. The long tail of the pandemic's impact will last several years at a minimum and only if there is no wave two - please!