Mayo's physician burnout super-study finally released their third round of data from the 2017 survey.

This was that infamous first study documenting burnout rates above 50% in US physicians in Mayo Clinic Proceedings using US physician burnout surveys performed in 2011 and 2014 compared to burnout in the general US population.

It is probably the single most important data point in the birth of the movement to track and address burnout in physicians. That movement has spread far and wide since 2011, culminating in the current wave of industry-wide confabs like the NAM Action Collaborative on Clinician Wellbeing and Resilience.

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Since 2014 we have been waiting patiently for that third round of surveys to report out. Show us the 2017 data please, please, please ... and here it is.

When managers/leaders drive for production in the face of physician burnout ... this quote becomes the leadership lesson of the day.

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Unfortunately the absence of empathy and understanding is often a blind spot in physician leaders. 

Physician Burnout and the Light-at-the-End-of-the-Tunnel Illusion

"I'm just hoping there is a light at the end of this tunnel"

I know you've heard the little voice in your head say that before. Me too. Happens to all of us from time to time.

These thoughts come up when you are slogging away day after day --  with no visible end to this struggle in sight. You have been going at this issue for a while now, your energy is drained and your inner pessimist comes out. It is extremely common in overwhelmed doctors when you are dancing on the cliff edge of physician burnout.

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I want you to know something very important ...

There Is No Tunnel !
It is an illusion caused by Einstein's Insanity Trap.

As long as you keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result ... it will appear you are stuck in a long dark tunnel.  The more you do the same things over and over - the longer and darker the tunnel becomes. Your energy, drive and hope are drained and you wonder whether things will ever get better.

Let me show how this mind trick keeps us all stuck and some specific steps you can take to shatter this Tunnel Illusion and free yourself.

Stop Physician Burnout - Unconscious Gender Bias in the Healthcare Workplace - Part One

In this blog post we will show you a sixth cause of physician burnout that is unique to women physicians and invisible to the men who share the very same workplace

Here at TheHappyMD.com we have helped hundreds of physicians recover from burnout since our launch in 2011. Early in that process we began to notice patterns in the specific sources of stress that drive doctors into burnout's downward spiral. The patterns eventually revealed the four main causes of physician burnout and recent leadership research has revealed a 5th major cause. We have continued to coach and train well over 10,000 physicians how to recognize and mitigate for these risks.

Another pattern is emerging and revealing itself as the 6th cause of physician burnout.

This is a gender specific cause effecting only women physicians in the healthcare workplace. The source is nothing new, I am certain gender bias in healthcare has been around since Hippocrates, what is notable from my perspective as a coach -- is the high frequency with which unconscious gender bias plays an independent role as a cause of physician burnout in women.

Men and women are different. Different neuroanatomy, different upbringing and unconscious programming, different internal hormonal environment and different cultural norms for how a man or woman is supposed to behave. We already know men and women experience physician burnout differently.

Let's start by acknowledging two things:

Like the layers of an onion, physician burnout is often wrapped in layers of negative emotions. In this post, let me show you a simple technique - it only takes 15 seconds - to release negative emotions as they arise and become the authentic eye of the storm in your practice day.

Peeling back the layers of the onion of bad feelings

If you find yourself overwhelmed, exhausted and out of balance with your practice -- after all your years of training and hard work, and this isn't anything like what you dreamed of back in the day ... well that recognition just feels bad.

And then you notice that the fact you feel bad about your career - well that feels bad too.

The National Academy of Medicine just published the first discussion paper from their Action Collaborative on Clinician Wellbeing and Resilience

It is a wide-ranging summary of the issue of Physician Burnout and its negative effects on all aspects of healthcare. 

It ends in classic academic fashion with a prolonged and detailed plea for more research.

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the whole paper is a comprehensive list of physician burnout study references - by far the largest I have ever seen. I share them with you here if you ever find yourself in need of a study to "prove" burnout's negative effects and convince leadership to take a stand for the Quadruple Aim.

'She was eaten alive'

The "con" of building physician resilience has left junior doctors vulnerable to mental illness and suicide by ignoring the systemic failures of the medical profession. Speaking at a session on mental health and wellbeing in Sydney alongside Health Minister Brad Hazzard, Ms Micaela Abbott said her sister was "eaten alive" by the medical profession. 

Dr. Chloe Abbott was 29 and a fourth-year doctor-in-training when she died in January, one of several recent suicides by doctors that prompted the Health Minister and the medical profession to act. 

"My family had really detested the term 'resilience'," Ms Abbott said, recounting her sister's fortitude as a champion swimmer who represented Australia in international competition. 

"That's not something you can do without resilience," she told the crowd of students about to join the profession that Dr Abbott's family and colleagues believed contributed to her death. "

It, of course, begs the question -- is the concept of Physician Resilience a con job to defend a hostile work environment?

Remember back to your first clinical rotations in medical school ... how exciting it was to finally be face to face with live patients. Bedside conversations, recognizing skin lesions and the signs of CHF. What a thrill it all was. Remember?

How much does the word THRILL apply to your feelings about your practice ... now?

In the last month, how often did you say to yourself in a quiet moment, "wow, that was really cool" about a patient, a diagnosis, a procedure, a conversation with a family member or member of your staff? I sincerely hope you run out of fingers to count them all up.

However, if that is not true for you - if the thrill is gone or you can feel it slipping away - what can be done about it? Can you get the thrill back?

Three Key Components of the Quadruple Aim

Medicine's new Quadruple Aim is the realization that building a quality healthcare delivery system is a lot like building a house.

If you have a good foundation, you can build a solid structure. 

If your foundation is unstable, weak or inadequate - your house will be in a constant state of falling apart. You cobble things back together, just in time for the walls to start crumbling again. 

If the "house" you want to build is a high quality, cost effective healthcare system with high patient satisfaction ... this is the old Triple Aim ... the only legitimate foundation is the health and wellbeing of the workers in the system.

The Quadruple Aim IS the foundation of quality healthcare.

Stop Physician Burnout - when even a scribe is not enough

I was in New Jersey this week working with a group that has several Scribe Pilot Projects in place. I was talking to the physicians about

- How they use their scribes
- The difference a scribe has made to the experience of their practice

And was shocked by their attitude and observations. I can summarize the conversations as follows:

"Sure ... a scribe is great/amazing/awesome ... AND it is NOT ENOUGH"

WHAT ???!!!

That may come as a shock if you - dear reader - do not have a scribe of your own. I suspect it is especially shocking if you think a scribe is the solution to your own stress at work.