Death with Dignity in a Busy Emergency Room

In our modern hospital environment, death with dignity can be difficult to accomplish. So often the conversations that would lead to a death with dignity are missed or avoided — with tragic consequences.

Here is a story from my own personal experience of a death with dignity in the midst of a busy Emergency room … a setting where death with dignity is the very last thing on most people’s mind.

Energy Vampires and Physician Burnout – stop the downward spiral

I recently heard that term for the first time on a popular online Physician Website. Energy Vampires are those patients (you know the ones) who seems to suck your life energy away every time you are near them.

Doctors and Nurses form a TEAM in healthcare

Often that team is quite dysfunctional because of a basic cross wiring in the command and control of the team.

A doctors and nurses post on KevinMD.com last week hit a nerve. It was titled “Listening to Nurses is a Key to Being a Good Doctor”.

I couldn’t agree more.

Physician Burnout – Gender Differences in Burnout Symptoms.

Numerous studies have shown that an average of 1 in 3 practicing physicians are suffering from symptomatic physician burnout on any given office day … worldwide, regardless of specialty.

The three classic signs and symptoms of physician burnout are measured by a standardized evaluation; the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). They are:

1) Emotional Exhaustion

The doctor is tapped out after the office day, hospital rounds or being on call and is unable to recover with time off. Over time their energy level begins to follow a downward spiral.

2) “Depersonalization”

This shows up as cynicism or a negative, callous, excessively detached response to their job duties. Often burned out doctors will begin to blame and complain about their patients and their problems.

3) “Reduced Accomplishment”

Here physician burnout has the doctor start to question whether they are offering quality care and whether what they do really matters at all.

As more female doctors move into the workforce, researchers are beginning to notice differences in the way physician burnout presents in men and women.

If you think for a moment about the three scales of the MBI, you will probably be able to imagine the differences. Here is what groundbreaking physician burnout research published in 2011 is showing.

Physician Burnout Symptoms

When it comes to physician burnout, the odds are stacked against us. We do whatever it takes to survive medical school and residency, but survival skills don't provide a decent quality of life.

They only allow us to squeak by. Burnout symptoms are not obvious to the burnout sufferer, so let's talk about the symptoms of burnout for just a second.