Burnout

[Guest guest]

Hey folks,

I have always had a pet peeve about the old boy, hazing ritual nature of the residency programs you folks have all gone through. I have seen the toll these programs have inflicted on a number of folks who have gone through them. And I believe there are more who suffer and suffered in silence than is obvious at first glance. It is also my belief like many burnout and trama issues that the effects of this kind of situation are frequently much more long lasting than most of us admit to, leading to as the article says to doctors with little or no heart or compassion left.

Is this any way to Psychologically prepare the next generation of primary care providers??? By detaching them from their humanity and their empathy and compassion??? I say Not... But I am in the minority on this issue it would seem. And this is why I refer to it as a hazing ritual because almost everybody comes out the other side defending the present way of doing things, co-opted by the shared experience of some how having survived the experience themselves and nobody wants to openly admit that perhaps the present set-up is potentially harmful not just to the patients but to the actual personal mental health and long term personality of the doctor themselves. It is a group bonding macho kind of thing that nobody is going to come out and admit that their program nearly killed or has negatively changed them inside in some way; because that is some sort of shared misguided belief system that such an admission is an admission

of weakness and incompetency. Nobody cares to "out" themselves much like present day combat troops coming home from the middle east suffering with the long last and damaging effects of PTSD.

Lastly, as I read one of Gordon's most recent posts about how even he our most enthusastic, positive and ever achieving cheerleader is starting to admit that the burnout of the present day "non-system" that regularly beats up on, under apperciates and devalues primary doctors will probably have him retire or opt-out of medicine early, then there are lessons that must be learned from thinking about burnout in a broader sense that must be addressed if we care to keep patient quality and outcomes high, and rid our workplace of the present day toxins. I also believe that there is such a thing as a cummulative kind of thing going on here as the doctor in training is regularly exposed to these toxic conditions. And so pre-med that leads to med school, that leads to a residency program that then leads to a high stress, productivity based first few jobs in the market place these all start to pile on and add up after

awhile...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/health/01chen.html?pagewanted=2 & ref=health

Sorry for the long soap box here, but only just a little. As a loving, caring and protective spouse of a burnt out family doc who the system has taken advantage of at just about every turn, this topic really gets me going... Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear some of your feedback...

"Doctor Heal Thyself!!!"

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