Stay Well, Friends!
In my ideal world, I would live and work a life that I don’t *need* to take vacation from. This is a goal I’m striving to meet. In the meantime, I’m dealing with “burnout” the best way I know how. (On a side note, “burnout” is a systems and processes failure, but that’s a conversation for another time.) 1. Understand how much workload you’re willing to take on without it affecting your mental health. If 50% FTE is what you need, work 50%. It’s ok if you work less so that you can work a longer duration (ie. decades). 2. If additional projects will cause untoward stress, it’s ok to say no when asked to do. “No” is a complete sentence. 3. Get efficient with charting. I close each chart with the end of each patient encounter. Document the important things and document enough. Nobody ever won a Pulitzer for the perfect medical note. 4. Home is home. Don’t bring additional work home. Leave it at the office. Go home and be a family member with your loved ones. Give them the gift of presence.