Stressed to the Max

Bye Bye Negative Thought #10

“I’Ve become ‘that’ person!”

Recently I was talking with a female colleague and she confessed to me, “Oh my god, I've become Dr. __!”

The person she described was a female attending during her residency training who was known for being the most berating and heartless attending in the program. She went on to tell me that she had promised herself years ago that she would never become what that attending was.

She sat sobbing because she'd come to a point in her life that she didn't even recognize herself anymore. She was absolutely stressed to the max—taking care of kids, aging parents, her practice and everything in between.

She had nothing left to give, it was showing and she was devastated.

Can you relate to this experience? Promising NEVER to be like that, work like that, say that and then catching yourself some time later…”Holy shit, I sound like___!”

But here’s the thing…you aren’t that person you promised not to be. You are only recognizing traits or patterns that you associate with that person.

So here’s the great news, this is not your permanent reality.

• You don’t want to be mean and bitchy…great...you can change that!

• You don’t want to be exhausted and look 15 years older than you really are…a-maze-balls…we can’t turn back time, but you can change the future from this point forward

• You want to start feeling more like yourself again and less like a mechanic robot version of you…wonderful…it’s gonna take some work but absolutely possible.

“How,” you ask?

Step 1: AWARENESS…you got that. You read this article and said, “Yep, I’m not who I want to be.”

Step 2: Hard core, in-depth, honest-to-God assessments into the status of:

• The current external parts of your life

• The current internal parts of you

• Your boundaries

• Your strengths and weakness

• Your own self-awareness

• How have you become the person you don’t want to be?

Step 3: Action around the future you desire and deserve:

• What must the future be for you?

• What would you like to attract into your life?

• What makes you feel most alive/joyful/fulfilled?

• What’s that thing you think about that is SOOOO amazing but you don’t share with anyone

Step 4: Get your booty movin’ (with the help of a great coach btw…wink wink). This is the part where the rubber meets the road. It’s also the place where most people don’t venture. They get clarity around what’s in their life, get courageous and start making plans but then *BOOM* fall flat on their face and make no ACTUAL changes.

Talking about being stressed out or burnt out can help some but true sustainable change only comes from a place of action.

If this sounds like something you are ALL IN for…why don’t we talk. Because I’m here to be an example and help. Click HERE for more deeds!

Let Us Be Doctors, Not Documentors

Bye Bye Negative Thought #9

“I’m so far behind that I’m just calling in sick to catch up!”

Have you done this?

Buried under a mountain of charts or paperwork that you alter your schedule and life to “catch up?”

Do you stay up after kids go to bed?

Go to the office early or on weekends?

Do you think, “God, I just want to stay caught up for once!!!???!!”

I’ll admit it…I’ve been there. Most weekends when I knew no one would be in the office, I would let myself in through the side door and worked like a mad woman for hours trying just to catch up.

That way on Monday morning, I could start without the weight of unfinished charts staring down on me. I would think, “I got to get this done so I’m not behind.”

Countless hours where spent (uncompensated, by the way) doing the work that just couldn’t get done during the work day because there was just not enough hours to take care of patients well AND document.

Well, sister in medicine…being behind on notes is NOT a personal character fault. You are not broken or inadequate! You are trapped in a system that is broken.

I believe that is absolutely unethical and unacceptable for this practice to continue. So I’m saying BYE BYE unrealistic expectations (and hoping you will too).

Instead of being told, “If you don’t get your notes done, you will be suspended,” groups/organizations should be supporting their physicians, unburdening them from non-clinical tasks and allowing them to do what we do best….BE A DOCTOR.

And that is EXACTLY what the research is saying too!

Recently, I gave a presentation at the Indiana Osteopathic Association’s Winter Conference in Indianapolis with my talk titled “Factors to Improve Physicians Lives” that was based on hearing Dr. Lotte N. Dyrbye, one of the nation’s leader in physician wellbeing, present at the Coalition for Physician Wellbeing 2018 Conference.

After doing research, here’s partially what I presented and what I gathered from Dr. Dyrbye and others work…

EXTERNAL National Factors to Improve Physician Lives

1. Documentation Burden

   • In re to the clinical encounter: MUST be reduced and streamlined. (Billing requirements, quality reporting, test justification

   • In re to “Doctor-only” task MUST have clarity regarding which tasks are doctor essential

2. EHR

   • In re to workflow: MUST be thoroughly vetted with all levels (especially physicians)

   • MUST evaluated for workforce implications PRIOR to their launch.

   • Because guess what…retrospective research shows Doctors weren’t just whining when EHRs were launched. Retrospectively, we were massively understaffed for the increased load burden that came

3. Insurers

   • MUST be eliminated payers requirements to perform and document unnecessary elements of care to justify billing codes BUT THAT DO NOT contribute to good medical care

   • MUST develop a more efficient preapproval process for tests, medications, and procedures for patients

4. MOC requirements

   • MUST better integrated with standard CME requirements, work to decrease burden and change the pay structure

   • (personally I would like to see MOC go all together)

5. State licensing boards

   • MUST eliminate questions on licensing applications regarding diagnosis or treatment for mental health conditions

   • Consider a National Clearinghouse

6. National organizations (ie The National Institutes of Health)

   • MUST become involved and allocate funds to support research evaluating the implications of clinician well-being for the care delivery system and determining how to improve the work-life of health care professionals.

I have much more to this presentation (but this is getting long)!

If you haven’t seen this NAM Discussion Paper yet, I highly encourage you to check it out HERE: Burnout Among Health Care Professionals: A Call to Explore and Address This Underrecognized Threat to Safe, High-Quality Care. You can get this and more information. It was my go to source for my talk.

So, all in all friend, KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT! Awareness is starting to come forth that the burdens we have been shouldering is ungodly. Change is coming and I going to keep pushing.

If you help some help with what you are struggling with, book a free NO SLEEZE-NO SLIME-NO SELLING colleague-to-colleague call with me today HERE. Because sometimes it helps to have a fellow colleague who understands!

Lessons from Oil Wells and Potholes

Several months ago I heard another fellow, female physician coach, Dr. Katrina Ubell talking about oil wells and I got really excited about being an Indiana girl who grew up around this industry. Her point smacked me upside the head that I wanted to share my version with you.

There are times in our lives were we start a project. For this example, start digging. We got along, dig dig dig until suddenly, BAM, we hit something hard, new and tough. This challenge is like hitting a new level of bedrock where the soil profile changes. No more top-soil, it just got real!

We all like to think that we would preserver and pick away at this SUPER CHALLENGING layer. But a majority of the time, we throw our hands up and say, “Enough. I tried hard enough. Moving on.”

Now don’t get me wrong, there are times in our lives that we must make changes and “the hole you are digging” just isn’t for me. But where it is a problem is retrospectively looking at the trail behind you, is there a plethora of potholes? Are you giving up too soon? Are you picking the wrong place to start digging? Did the dig or project really not mean that much to you?

So instead, I advise changing your life of one filled with potholes to one with a few oil wells. (Stay with me on this one.)

When (not if) we get to those hard place in our lives after we've been digging through the soft mud, the hard bedrock can be a great refining process. It challenges you to question, “Do I continue?”

It also shows you that you must approach this situation differently than all your previous experience.

Instead of using the same tool or shovel, you must upgrade to a different tool in order to proceed. That little shovel you were using before has served you well to this point so be grateful but know you are ready for some more power. Same goes for your thought patterns or will power, they have served you to this point. But now is time to uplevel your mental game.

You now need the pulsating chisel drill, (I pick this one because recently I took up some tile in my basement and felt like a He-Woman using it. Also a must-have for tile removal but I diverge…) or jackhammer or upgrade to a dozer. In other words, you must invest some serious time, effort and money into new tools to get you through this challenge and onto the desired result below.  

Now, I know what you might be thinking, “Errin, I have been through Hell! I have been challenged and I have made it through.”

Friend, you are tough! But I want to show you that through all the layers of your life current or in the future:

• Maybe it’s time for a different approach that isn’t so draining?

• Maybe you need new sharp tools that are more effective?

• Maybe you don’t need to struggle alone by asking for help instead of working alone?
  

If you’re past is full or potholes and you are ready to go deep into oil drilling, it’s about shifting your mental game, realizing what you really want and setting yourself up to succeed.

If you are working away at your current oil well but are dead-dog tired, now is the time to upgrade your equipment/skills, consider some different approaches and get help from others!

If you want to talk more, schedule a colleague to colleague call HERE because you got this and I got your back!