How this physician handles burnout

“Put me out of my misery!” I’ve pleaded to anyone within earshot in the throes of a grueling day, a rant from one feeling burnt out. There are days I want to pull my hair out, even the ones that aren’t gray. One night I caught myself grunting, “I hate my life,” while heading out the door at 12 a.m., after an already exhausting day in the OR. No sane person should ever say that. But the world of medicine nowadays is far from sane. After returning home for two hours of sleep, I drag myself to the office with a full patient-load, which is not bad in itself if it weren’t for that unsettling, acronymic world of EHRs, MACRA, MIPS, CPOE, PQRS, etc. and those other unmerciful disturbances such as pre-authorizations, meaningful use, fraud and abuse, medical-legal this-and-that, insurance companies, policies and procedures, rules and regulations, anything to do with the government … and lawyers, all sucking the life-blood like a school of piranha. It’s enough to make my head spin — words an ENT doc loathes to hear. “Please, shoot me now!” I say to my loyal office staff. I’d even loan them one of my guns. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not, nor ever have been, suicidal. But we know the doctor suicide rate is frightfully higher than the general population. When I chose medicine as a career, I understood it was a calling going far beyond a typical 9 to 5 job. I knew I’d experience glorious highs but terrifying, pee-in-the-pants lows. The long hours and rollercoast...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Primary Care Source Type: blogs