"Circle the wagons"

"All power to the shields"

In times of crisis, these two phrases come in handy as sterling advice for all of us ... especially when you are a physician at the tip of the spear in the response to a global pandemic.

When times get tough, demand peaks and we struggle to keep up with the amplified whirlwind of being a doctor  --  priorities change and lots of things will get crossed off your calendar that used to seem so important before Coronavirus escaped containment. 

My advice?

Cone your focus down to just two points.

1) When you are with your patients, take great care of them and get your charts done.

2) When you are NOT with your patients ... 

• Grab your team - those you work closest with.
• Grab your family and loved ones.
• Look in the mirror and check on how you are holding up

Then circle your wagons and apply all remaining power to the shields (Star Trek style) -- to thank, protect, recharge, feed and nurture - you, your family and your team with any time and energy that is left.

As a professional coach, I help physicians create personal and practice Transformation.

===========
Transformation:
- a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.
- or a metamorphosis during the life cycle of an animal.
==> that orients an individual/organization in a new direction and takes it to an entirely different level of effectiveness

Synonyms:
Evolution, recasting, reorganization, rearrangement, renewal, rejigging, reworking, renovation, overhaul, revolution
============

There are patterns, success factors and even laws that cover this work.

Over the course of my personal life and in my experience as a coach to hundreds of physician clients - often suffering from physician burnout - I have noticed several obvious patterns in what works and what does not when it comes to this concept of transformation.

In this blog post let me show you some of the major transformation success patterns. I will call them "laws" here because they behave similar to the laws of nature - universal, immutable, inviolable ... like gravity.

These three laws are mandatory checkpoints on the way to any transformation in your life or practice.

Two danger signs of physician burnout from that Little Voice inside your  head.

You know that voice. In cartoons it is often depicted as an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. When you tune in to that inner voice, it is easy to notice it talks pretty much all the time. 

Mostly random thoughts, feelings, worry, memories.

Sometimes though, it gives you a message that has meaning here and now. In our coaching practice, we have noticed two specific inner voice phrases that are nearly universal in physicians as the tip over the edge and into burnout.

==========
This is Blog Post #320
Complete Blog Library  is Here
==========

These two phrases are clear warnings of overload and potential burnout. Ignore them at your peril.

Stop Physician Burnout Podcast with Shane Tenny CFP

The financial planning firm of Spaugh Dameron Tenny hosts the whitecoat wellness podcast. I was a guest last week and we covered a lot of ground. Here's the podcast link. The transcript is below and here is some of what we covered.

==========
This is Blog Post #319
Complete Blog Library  is Here
==========

Stop Physician Burnout Podcast Transcript:

Shane Tenny CFP and Dike Drummond MD, CEO TheHappyMD.com

Topics:

• Symptoms, complications and prevalence of physician burnout
• The causes of our modern physician burnout epidemic
• How to prevent burnout
• Coaching as a treatment and prevention method
• How organizations can play a role in burnout prevention

============

All doctors know EMR is a pain and a leading cause of physician burnout ... 

.. but few of us grasp the the depth of the depravity in the Electronic Health Industry until now.

New investigative reporting is shining the light of day on a backwater of fraud, cheating and lies that surrounded the roll out of EMR starting in 2009.

Starting that year, $38 Billion dollars in subsidies for installation of EMR software and attestation to its "meaningful use" have been allocated by the federal government. The response of the EMR industry to that size pile of money was equivalent to giving a school of great white sharks the carcass of a dead blue whale. A similar feeding frenzy ensued. 

A significant portion of the EMR industry's response to these stimulus funds appears to have been illegal, harmful or both.  

New reporting by Fortune Magazine and Kaiser Health News is collating all the settlements and whistleblower cases into one article so we can all witness the Soprano-style attack on this facet of our healthcare industry.

Turns out some players in the industry constructed a maze of fraud, lies and kickbacks - to the tune of billions of dollars so far. (Tony would have been so proud)

That's right, multi-million dollar systemic and protracted cheating and lying in the EMR industry - already caught, prosecuted and settled for over a billion dollars in fines and claw backs to date

A recent burnout prevention training for residents revealed the importance of the teachable moment for their future employers.

Here's how I learned this important lesson:

There are some things doctors can't really learn until the time is right -- and residency may not be that right time -- no matter how much we wish it was.

I just delivered a half day retreat for a group of residents a large east coast independent academic medical center. In planning the event, I sifted through my experience coaching hundreds of doctors who burned out after residency ... when they were in practice. I was looking for a short list of skills to answer this question:

"Given what burns out practicing physicians, what can I teach these residents now that could prevent their burnout in the future?"

Back to the future

Basically I envisioned myself as a representative of these residents future selves, coming back to teach them the tools they need to avoid physician burnout when they are out in practice.

• So I put together a three training, four hour event
• Delivered the trainings
• And watched carefully to see how they landed with the residents
• What were they able to pick up and use right away?
• What concepts/tools went over their head?
• What appeared to useful and what appeared to be useless at this point in their careers?

My experience gives us all some information to answer the Teachable Moment Question:

Is residency the best place to teach the tools to prevent burnout from happening when these doctors are out in practice?

Or is there a better teachable moment?

Will recent recommendations of the National Academy of Medicine cause meaningful action to address the burnout epidemic?

• Will we look back 10 years from now and say 2020 is when everything changed?
• Do calls for a "positive work environment" mean anything when there are no recommendations on HOW to accomplish that feat? 
• What happens in the C-suite when this call to address physician burnout clashes with the organization's drive to maximize profit and shareholder value? (even non-profits must have a margin!)

In this blog post let's do two things:

2) Give you a copy of the full recommendations so you can do two things:

1. 1. Print off two copies and carry them with you at all times.
   2. So when the opportunity arises, you can drop them on your CEO/CMO/CFO's desk and ask that they be adopted in your organization. If your boss can be influenced by consensus statements like this, you want to be ready for their teachable moment. 
      

Toss the New Year's Resolutions ... these ten questions can make 2020 ... your Best Year Yet.

Wrap a bow around all your accomplishments and milestones for 2019.
Give yourself a solid pat on the back.
Then, set your intentions for 2020.

Our 10-question breakthrough process takes only about an hour to complete and can make a huge difference for you and your family in the year ahead.

Use This Link to get your copy of the Physician's 2020 Breakthrough Worksheet (2579 downloads to date!)

No rush. Grab the worksheet download with the link below and print it out.
You will have plenty of time to work the questions at your leisure in the week
and weekend ahead.

This is our fifth year sharing the Physician Breakthrough Process

Here is Dr. Zubin Damania's take on the intersection of happiness and the experience of being a hospitalist

Please Leave a Comment 

How does his message and his story resonate with you?

Will the government step in and legislate proactive efforts to stop physician burnout?

As we predicted several weeks ago, it is only a matter of time before the cry for legislative action would go out. And rightfully so:

• Physician burnout has been characterized as a public health crisis for years
• Given the negative effects of burnout on safety, quality, medical errors and physician's mental health ... it is clear that unrecognized burnout kills patients and doctors
• The prevalence of burnout is staggering here in the age of EMR - over 50% in many studies
• And the majority of healthcare organizations who employ doctors make no meaningful investment in physician wellbeing. Lip service is rampant, but significant FTE and dollars for burnout prevention are exceedingly rare.

Sooner or later, someone was bound to shout, "there should be a law about this." That non-specific call for action happened here back in July.

=============
Learn an Effective Corporate Physician Wellness Strategy
WellMDWorks 3-Step Process is at This Link
=============

Let's take it up a notch

Now we have specific calls for specific carrots and sticks from a bona fide legal scholar.

Sharona Hoffman, , JD, LLM, SJD; Professor of Law and Bioethics at Case Western Reserve University, has written an editorial in the latest Hastings Center Report