With physician burnout being a common topic today, many are pointing toward improving work-life balance. And although I'm all for striking a happy medium, a recent article in TIME magazine, in their book Nine Lies About Work, got my attention. Their research found that the key to improving imbalance and unhappiness at work is to keep track all week of things you "love" and things you "loathe" at work. The goal is to focus on the "love" list and delete as much of the "loathe" list as possible. Their research states that "73% of us claim we have the freedom to modify our job to fit our strengths better, but only 18% of us do so."
As an executive coach whose goal is to help my physician clients improve their joy in and out of work, one would think that I would immediately adopt this strategy. Yet I know that, although there are certainly some things we can increase or decrease on the "love/loathe" scales at work, there are many that we cannot. Raise your hand if you loathe electronic medical records. Or patient satisfaction surveys that end up giving you a bad "grade" because of things totally outside your control, like a rude front-desk person or a long wait time because you were attending to another patient with more urgent/life-threatening needs.
The discrepancy between doctors and the other folks out in the workplace has been addressed by many. One study of was aptly titled, "You can't be a person and a doctor." Although the U.K. study cited female physician trainees as appearing to be more burdened by the lack of work-life balance, other confirm that it's not exclusive to females by any stretch.
It always takes me by surprise when non-medical colleagues suggest meeting over lunch. In our medical world, we know that "" and the idea of stretching our already cramped schedule to drive anywhere and take time out of the workday to accomplish other tasks is, well, usually impossible. Attorneys, bankers, full-on business folks often make lunch meetings a necessary event. Whether we're trying to close on a mortgage, get a root canal, or other such "life balancing" acts, the idea of squeezing something in over the lunch hour in our medical world is simply ridiculous.
Are there things that we can change, like right now, that might improve our work-life balance in medicine? Sure. I think figuring out what things we can outsource at home (grocery shopping, errands, house cleaning) or at work (can you say "scribes"?) make a good first step in the right direction. But the idea that just toting around a notebook for a week and writing down our list of "loves/loathes" is, frankly, not gonna cut it.
Many of us are not actually in that "73%" of folks who feel we have the freedom to modify our jobs. Now, would we like to be? Of course! And there are options, don't get me wrong. Some have the option to reduce their working hours. Or change jobs. Or alter their current job in a truly meaningful way where the balance is tipped just a bit more in favor of the physician.
Balancing things for physicians doesn't always just mean work-life balance. It also means balancing our self-care and need for downtime, sleep, and rest on the one hand, and on the other. We all know that the more fatigued we are, the less we are able to properly care for ourselves – and for others. I vividly recall, as I was driving to the emergency department at 3 a.m. during residency training, wondering if I was a safe driver despite my exhaustion, let alone a sharp enough doctor to be in the operating room.
What can we do to make things better going forward? I think we need to let our patients know a bit more about our daily lives. I think they need to know that we are not out playing golf on Wednesday afternoons or getting our hair done. We may be meeting with our autistic child's teacher to see how we can help them get through the rest of the school year. Or we may be having a conference with the hospice personnel to hear their recommendations on how to proceed in the care of our elderly parent.
And let's be honest with each other, shall we? If we need a bit of help, let's learn to be okay with raising our hand. And, in turn, let's reach out to our fellow physician to lift them up when we see them faltering. In that way, we can aim to strike more balance for us all.
Starla Fitch, MD, is an ophthalmologist, speaker, and personal coach. She blogs at and is the author of . She can also be reached on Twitter .