NYT: Excellent Article on MD Burnout...

[drusso]

For Doctors, Delving Deeper as a Way to Avoid Burnout

"By the end of internship and residency, a slow trickle of my classmates began to leave medicine (some joined tech firms in Silicon Valley; some became entrepreneurs). My closest friend from those years joined a neuroscience lab but then left to become a full-time parent. By 2018, there was a barrage of discontent. In one study, 42 percent of doctors reported feeling burned out."

I can think of about a dozen people from a med school class of 110 who are out of the game by now less than 20 years after graduation. About 1-2 from residency have hung it up. From my fellowship class of 3, one of us went back to the OR for straight anesthesiology ("Pain is not for me."), one is half-time pain/half-time OR, and I'm still full-time pain...but PM&R specialty of origin so I can't go back to the OR...

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[Dr. Ice]

Yeah to be pmr primary specialty means either pain/sports or seeing pretzels in a subacute facility and asking people how many stairs they have in their house. That’s really the unfortunate reality for us. Although I can imagine that putting people to sleep and being the surgeon’s whipping boy in the OR isn’t so great either. I know a bunch of guys that left medicine altogether and went straight to the entrapraneural side...

 

[Gauss]

"Among doctors, too, it seemed, resilience and survivorship tracked along the same essential dimensions: meaning, mastery and autonomy."
This applies to our generation of physicians but I don't think the next gen really feels this way.

 

[SSdoc33]

i suggest training for a triathlon for your clear mid-life crisis

 

[drusso]

i suggest training for a triathlon for your clear mid-life crisis

That response sounds like blaming the victim which is disgusting.

Moral Injury: A prime driver of burnout – Ryan Bayley, M.D.

"Physicians for far too long have left healthcare leadership to others. Taking up leadership roles, and challenging the conflicts within the healthcare system, can provide purpose to demoralized physicians."

 

[SSdoc33]

That response sounds like blaming the victim which is disgusting.

Moral Injury: A prime driver of burnout – Ryan Bayley, M.D.

"Physicians for far too long have left healthcare leadership to others. Taking up leadership roles, and challenging the conflicts within the healthcare system, can provide purpose to demoralized physicians."

wait, you are a "victim"?

im not blaming anyone, but every one of your posts basically suggest that the world is out to get you. you strike me as an excellent doctor who is burned out, tired of fighting for scraps, and is indeed having a mid-life crisis. might i suggest triathlon training, home brewing, or ken follett.

 

[drusso]

wait, you are a "victim"?

im not blaming anyone, but every one of your posts basically suggest that the world is out to get you. you strike me as an excellent doctor who is burned out, tired of fighting for scraps, and is indeed having a mid-life crisis. might i suggest triathlon training, home brewing, or ken follett.

Not everything I post is about me...I try to find topics that provoke discussion. I think that Burn-Out in Pain Medicine is largely ignored.

 

[SSdoc33]

Not everything I post is about me...I try to find topics that provoke discussion. I think that Burn-Out in Pain Medicine is largely ignored.

Fair enough

but i stand by my Follett recommendation

 

[DOctorJay]

are there any other industries that treat their highest trained people the way organized medicine treats physicians? are there others we can learn from?

 

[drusso]

are there any other industries that treat their highest trained people the way organized medicine treats physicians? are there others we can learn from?

Government Policies Are Driving Doctors To Quit Health Care

"The government deserves much of the blame for doctors’ low morale. For years, the feds have cut their pay, meddled in their decisions, and subjected them to mountains of needless paperwork. Physicians are increasingly responding by leaving active medical practice. And many of America’s best and brightest are declining to go into the field."

 

[pastafan]

Government Policies Are Driving Doctors To Quit Health Care

"The government deserves much of the blame for doctors’ low morale. For years, the feds have cut their pay, meddled in their decisions, and subjected them to mountains of needless paperwork. Physicians are increasingly responding by leaving active medical practice. And many of America’s best and brightest are declining to go into the field."

True but private insurers are as much or more onerous than the the government.

 

[Gauss]

are there any other industries that treat their highest trained people the way organized medicine treats physicians? are there others we can learn from?

Pilots are one group that come to mind. Organize and unionize, retire early (forced)
You can stay on the treadmill or find another way - financial independence & half retirement or full retire and/or find another gig

Increasing Your Primary Care Income: An Interview with Doc G of DiverseFI – Podcast #75 | The White Coat Investor - Investing And Personal Finance for Doctors

"I think anyone who feels like they’ve given enough or their time has come, I think it’s okay to leave it. I think it’s an individual choice. I think if society’s needs are great enough that we need more doctors, then we as a society have to make this job better."

 

[DOctorJay]

I was thinking pilots as well. unionizing necessary but won't happen. good link!