The Heart of the Healer Physician Wellness Retreat was an amazing time on Orcas Island over our four days together in September

We worked on our Ideal Life and Ideal Practice Descriptions and created BIG and Little Bucket Lists ... with yoga and meditation in the mornings and whale watching and mountain hiking in the afternoons. All in the best summer weather of the year.

Here is a video of the cherry on top of the whole experience - our Float Plane flight back to Civilization

Physician Burnout and How To Break Out of Survival Mode

There is a tipping point when doctors are under stress … it happens silently, slowly and when you pass through this threshold your downward spiral will frequently accelerate.

I am talking about when you drop into Survival Mode.
When you unconsciously begin to focus your energy 100% on simply getting through the day and dragging your exhausted butt home.

Physician Wellness – Let’s abandon the struggle and just let doctors do what they do best.

In response to the chronic epidemic of physician burnout, there is a lot of talk about Physician Wellness these days. Hospitals and groups are being encouraged to establish a physician wellness committee and do something, anything, for the doctors. These efforts almost always fail because of a blind spot buried in the fabric of our medical education system.

In this article, let me show you

• Why these committees often sputter and die a quick, silent death
• Why the concept of Physician Wellness is always such a frustrating struggle
• Where to focus our energy instead to create the most good for the most doctors

Physician Wellness: 2 ways to tell if your group cares

The concept of physician wellness is meant to be an antidote to the physician burnout epidemic. Here are two ways to tell if your group cares.

With multiple surveys showing physician burnout at epidemic levels in all specialties (an average of one in three doctors are burned out on any given office day, some surveys show burnout rates as high as 87%) – many organizations are wondering how to support physician wellness in a meaningful way.

The pervasive negative effects of physician burnout on the quality of care your group provides should make physician wellness a top priority.

Physician Wellness ? => Thriving vs. Surviving

I have heard all sorts of people talking about physician wellness lately and it is clear there is no generally accepted definition for those two words. That is a BIG PROBLEM. Here’s why …

Until you and I understand what “Physician Wellness” is … it is going to be very hard to get some! So … Before you read any further. Take a moment to consider your answer to the following questions.

What does “Physician Wellness” mean to You ?

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.

Stress and Doctors = Mindfulness Meditation

The research is becoming overwhelming that Mindfulness Meditation is the most powerful moment to moment stress reducing, burnout preventing technique for physicians. The challenge is getting that awareness out of the ivory towers of research and translating it into simple techniques a  practicing doctor can use on the fly.

Physician Wellness and a satisfying medical career mean saying “no” to endless hours and solo practice for many younger physicians.