Posted By on February 15, 2010
Doctors, more than any other professions, are under constant stress. But with effective time management, achieving a balanced life amidst a physician’s chaotic environment is not impossible.
Doctors are living at a speed of stress. They’re thriving and surviving. In an environment that continually asks physicians to know more,do more, and be more, is it really possible to practice good medicine and still have something left at the end of the day to be a mother, father, wife, husband, partner, son, daughter, professor, leader, or friend?
Medicine is a rewarding profession with many benefits, but is also demanding with many stressors. Half of physicians are experiencing extremely stressful work or severe burnout. Seventeen percent report their mental health as fair or poor.
Dr. Claire Panosian Dunavan of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California-Los Angeles wrote, “Medical doctors are more likely to commit suicide than any other professional group. There is the contribution of external stressors to modern-day medical despair
According to Dr. Dunavan, brain biochemistry fuels major depression, but burnout from day-in, day-out exposure to death and suffering, paperwork and bureaucracy, waste and maldistribution in healthcare, or even sheer exhaustion, all contribute to a physician’s stress.
Autonomy is very important to physicians and job satisfaction is strongly linked to a feeling of control over one’s practice and work. Stress and burn out are high because doctors are not very good at looking after themselves and often they cope by denial or avoidance. They are not very good at seeking help from others as they feel stigmatized by their colleagues if they need or seek help.
Physicians’ pressures come from high self-expectations, high expectations of others, compulsive personality traits, poor limit setting, strong reinforcement for service before self, chronic self-neglect in pursuit of work, leadership roles, and reshuffled priorities.
Category: career, health, profession |
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