I am a big, old, straight, American cis male physician, showered in white privilege and given a free pass in the realm of bias and discrimination. 

I have coached hundreds of burned out physicians over the last 12 years. Our conversations are intimate and authentic for a simple reason; there is no change without first telling the truth.

Whenever one of my coaching clients varies from my personal characteristics - in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, native language, sexual orientation or any other variable - we both know that bias and discrimination play some role in their burnout. They tell me the truth of what is going on. I tell them when I see subtle and obvious bias and discrimination from my position of privilege.

[I freely acknowledge I did not earn this position. It is only a reflection of the random combination of chromosomes that looks back at me from the mirror in the morning. As a coach it offers me the equivalent of a Litmus Test: I ask, "if it was me instead of my client in this situation, would I be treated the same way?" If the answer is NO, bias and discrimination is in play.]

For these physicians, each week contains a subset of words and deeds that hurt. The aggressors may be patients, staff, the general population or even leaders and physician colleagues.

• Some hurt on purpose with looks, language and actions used deliberately to wound the physician as a human being.
• Others are unconsciously woven into the fabric of our society and the healthcare system itself. 

TWO (obvious) QUESTIONS:

1) Just how often do physicians who are not white and not cis males experience these feelings of bias and discrimination in the course of their work life?

2) Is the frequency of these "microaggressions" associated with burnout in these doctors?

A recent study answers both.

• 94% experienced sexist microaggressions
• 81% experienced racist microaggressions
• Each and both were linked to the physician's burnout risk

Let me show you why these results (which might seem shocking to you) are what I consider to be a best case scenario.

And ... let me ask you if this strikes you as important new information or an obvious "DUH of the Day"?

Patient Satisfaction should NEVER be 100%

Patient Satisfaction - or the "Patient Experience" is a key quality indicator for organizations and a potential bonus point for the individual physician.

Stop Physician Burnout: One step to more of what you really want in your practice.

Desire is an interesting and disempowering emotion. When you really, really, really want things to be different and you wake up the next day -- and it is exactly the same as yesterday -- well that is just disappointing to say the least.

If your practice is not what you dreamed it would be ... that difference between desire and reality can be a major source of stress and burnout. 

And yet there is great power in desire/longing/dreams and vision when you have a clear target and the skills to move in that direction. This is what got you through Medical School and Residency - a clear finish line and a way to get there.

You are out in your own practice now. You have the freedom and responsibility to determine what your practice looks like and how it feels ... for you and your family. It is rare that you will find what you seek on someone else's job description.

You will need to change things up to get what you really want in your practice/career/life. This is how you put stress and burnout to its highest and best use.

Physician Burnout's highest and best use

From within the misery of physician burnout it is difficult to see, but there is a purpose to this suffering. Burnout actually has a highest and best use.

When you use your stress and burnout as fuel for transformation -- when you do a good job of burning out, you will look back on this as an important turning point in your life. A turning point for the better.

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.

Become an Effective Physician Wellness Champion
============

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".

Even in a Year Like This ... Physician Wellness Leaders are More Important than Ever ... here's why ...

We are nowhere near the end of the human suffering and massive economic impact of the pandemic of 2020.

The Old Normal is gone. It is all hands on deck - as you treat COVID-19 patients directly or are working to ramp your practice back up again. 

The New Normal has yet to emerge from the whirlwind.

[Next Workshop Starts February 1st, 2021]
 => Click Here for Full Details <=

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.

And get ready to run like never before 

If you haven't heard yet, your organization just had its worst three months in history -- yet another COVID-19 driven contribution to physician burnout.

i) If you are a practice owner, this reality has been keeping you up at night for weeks.

ii) If you are an employee physician and you don't already know about the smoking crater that is your organization's financial statement, your leaders are hiding the financials from you in a fine example of #badleadership.

iii) And if your organization somehow managed to avoid a massive loss in the last 90 days - either you are a full risk/capitated provider (Kaiser Permanente) or you got very, very lucky.

For healthcare delivery organizations relying on fee-for-service payment contracts, things have never been this bad.

Their profit margin just went from single digit positive to a giant sucking sound. Even the Mayo Clinic is projecting a 3 BILLION dollar loss in 2020.

==========
This is Blog Post #335
Complete Blog Library  is Here
==========

Now we have some potential GOOD NEWS !

Now we are seeing a little flicker of light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel.