By Kraig M. Burgess, DO

I have been asked to write to you, my peers, about the problems surrounding physician burnout.  Admittedly, my first thought was, “What is the universe trying to tell me?  Is this some cruel joke?” After all, I’m the guy just who just climbed out of the ashes of having what felt like everything I knew and worked towards stripped away.  What could I possibly have to say?  On the other hand, perhaps my journey provides perspective and what I hope could be an alternative path from my pain for even one reader.  If we are all willing to look inside of ourselves and be honest, we could all admit we have problems.  Many of those problems are deeply seeded in the challenges of being a physician today.  I understand your pain.  I’ve lived it, and I’ll have you consider that out of that pain there is possibility.  I will share a path with over twenty actions to restore balance and manage the consequences of physician burnout that perhaps just might change your life. First, a bit of foundation.

Perspective:
I am a 46-year-old hand surgeon and at the time of this writing, it will be Christmas Eve tomorrow.  My 7 and 9 year old children are with their Mother. I miss them, but life is different now after the divorce.  I can hear the clang of some pots and pans downstairs coming from my live-in au pair from Brazil who has now become a part of my broken family and current reality.  A necessity when it comes to managing a busy orthopedic practice as a single divorced Father.  I didn’t hire her to raise my kids.  I hired her to do the things that rob me of the precious time and space I do have with my children.

Like all of you, I was driven and committed to my craft.  I had to be and society demands it from all of us.  I lived life one major achievement to the next.  I needed to get through undergrad so I could get into med school, then through med school, internship, residency, fellowship, then the first years of my new practice, then the housing crisis, then a new practice.  You get the idea, it went on and on.  I lied to myself and my wife and eventually to my children, that someday things would be better.  I just needed to finish “X” or I just needed to get through “Y,” or I just needed six more months.  After losing our home in the housing crisis, I joined a new group, looking for answers and money.  It was just another example of what “I needed to just get through.”  In reality, I took pride in knowing I was seeing the most patients, performing the most surgery, and taking the fewest vacation days of any of my 18 partners.  Year over year this continued and for what?

My wife and I began to distance.  I lacked the courage to have the crucial conversations early enough and often enough.  We drank though the weekends to avoid reality.  My resentment began to grow.  I envied the life I had given her and my children and resented the lack of appreciation for how hard I worked and how little free time I had to enjoy life.  Didn’t they know I was working my butt off for them?  That was my ego, that was just another lie I was living. My son and daughter would simply ask me, “Daddy will you play with me?”  My wife would have to get my attention, “Kraig….KRAIG!….they’re trying to talk to you.”  Even when I was home I wasn’t.  It seemed impossible for me to be present.  And then it ended.  She was gone.  How sad, how distant, how lonely must a wife have to be to choose to end a marriage?  It is even more difficult to comprehend her unhappiness knowing the opportunity cost of leaving also included sacrificing half the waking moments she can have in our children’s lives as a result of joint custody.  How horribly ironic, that the world I created through decades of hard work not only robbed me of my past and present, but serendipitously just robbed me of the very future of time, wealth and early retirement I worked so hard to create.

Over the last few years a lot has changed in my life.  I no longer resonate with my stories of the past.  I am creating a new future for myself and my children and even their mother.  Peace would be the overwhelming word used to describe life today.  Since “the fall,” I have grown in my love and respect for my children’s mother.  I have stopped vilifying her and victimizing me.  I have a deeper connection with both of my children and have the ability to be present with them during the times I have custody which exceeds what I was capable of doing during my marriage.  I have resigned from my group and taken the leap of faith to consolidate my practice to one location, closer to my home, my kids, their school, my church, and my gym.  I have support from close friends on a deep and vulnerable level without judgement for my darkness.  I have tithed and given more in charity despite alimony and child support than ever before.  I am more active in my church and philanthropic organizations.  My health and fitness have me doing things most 20-year-olds can’t do.  I share this not because the details of my life matter to you.  I’m simply trying to create perspective over what is possible and the recommendations that follow have become a way of life for me.  As a mentor of mine once said, “I will never ask you do to what I have not been willing to do myself.”

The Pain:
Somewhere along the way many of us have lost our identity and our autonomy.  There is rarely any grace.  There are no sick days.  You’re not allowed to be “off” or to be having a bad day, and you are certainly never allowed to be wrong.  We are held hostage by social media and online ratings.  We have to bend to these societal pressures just hoping we don’t get a bad review from the drug-seeking patient we just discharged.  We feel forced to see more volume than we can reasonably and sometimes safely handle.  We can’t control our spiraling overhead costs.  We can’t control our reimbursement.  We are forced to push more and more buttons to cling to the same reimbursement we had years ago.  We listen and give and listen and give until there is nothing left.  After dictations, we drive home like zombies, emotionally bankrupt, unable to possibly talk to anyone any longer.  The motivation to call your sick mother and see how she is doing is almost nonexistent because you know you will have to put your doctor hat on once again.  Then you walk in the door while trying to suppress the days anxiety and stress so you can be a good spouse and parent.  You begin to lose your identity beyond that of the physician.  You begin to bring work home.  You begin to resent your friends in businesses outside of medicine who leverage their time wisely and make passive income doing nothing more than occasionally checking their laptop from their vacation home. Worse yet, you can begin to resent your spouse and even family. It becomes easy to feel taken for granted because you work tirelessly for your family but they don’t seem to appreciate it.  Meanwhile you are too blind to realize they would trade all the things your income can buy just for some time and connection with you.  You give more to the transient patients in your life than the permanent fixtures in your life…family and your own well-being.  Too often we trade time for dollars.

The Problem:
Why as physicians today, are so many of us asking the questions, “Why is my life not working, why is it filled with so much stress, anxiety and chaos? Why can’t I seem to get control of it? Why is my practice so dysfunctional? Why am I blowing up at the kids when I get home?  Why am I sedating on social media again?  Why am I ignoring or resenting my spouse?”  For some of you, none of this may apply and this message does not resonate.  I’m happy for you.  For others, you begin to feel the isolation and eventually you start to tell yourself, “I’m broken and there must be something wrong with me.”  Shame and guilt can begin to spiral as you feel more and more isolated.  There is a disconnection between the person you want to be and the current reality of your life.  Suppression can set in next.  Through this suppression you try and project this false sense of identity to co-workers, patients, family and the community in an effort to hide what you really feel.  Tension begins to mount between who you really are and who you are trying to project yourself to be.  Eventually a sense of isolation sets in as the struggles continue.  You begin to isolate yourself from those around you and sadly often those who love you the most.  You begin to stop looking for help, looking for guidance and engaging in meaningful relationships.  A feeling of intense isolation and emptiness can occur.  As a way of escaping, methods of sedation begin to surface in an effort to numb the feelings of emptiness and burnout.  Maybe it’s pouring a stiff cocktail, or burying yourself in your iPhone, perhaps a pornography addiction, or popping a pill or cheating on a spouse.  The sense of loneliness can begin to mount even more.  After all, as a physician, you can’t be broken.  You’re not allowed to be vulnerable.  You can’t express your frustration or certainly your own pathologies.  Who is going to trust you as a physician or what spouse is going to love you as this kind of man or woman?  A massive sense of unworthiness can overtake you.  Consciously or subconsciously you begin to burn things down to the ground in your relationships with your patients, your family,  your partners and your friends.  Eventually, the people you have isolated yourself from stop reaching out.  The kids no longer ask you, “will you play with me?”  Your spouse stops asking you, “please come home and spend time with me and the kids.”  Your friends stop texting.  If the cycle continues, eventually it all burns to the ground.  For some it takes years and years and the cycles are slow and almost imperceptible.  It can be like a long, painful novel with each day another turning of the page, but you’ve read ahead and you don’t like the way the book ends.   You sit, day after day, powerless to change your story.  Why is it, somewhere along the way we begin to lose ourselves and become one dimensional or maybe two at best?  We are massive producers at work, but we begin to sacrifice our bodies, our sleep, our fitness.  We lose connection with our faith and certainly stop growing in this area.  The void you feel between you and your spouse, family, and friends only continues to deepen.

The Possibility:
Is it possible to exist as a physician surgeon in today’s era of modern medicine and still have it all?  Can we ever expect to have it all in life with balance across your personal health and fitness, your sense of connection to faith, your ability to connect on a deeper level with your wife and kids, and finally, in your practice of medicine?  There is an important connection that cannot be overstated between these four pillars: Health, Faith, Family, and Career.  In my opinion it’s not possible to find harmony if you lack balance in these key principles.   When there is an imbalance in one area, the other three are impacted.  If you are overweight, out of shape and the idea of doing 25 push ups, 50 sit ups and 100 air squats has you thinking more about the ambulance you would need after, then I will have you consider, burnout in the workplace is likely also happening.  If you haven’t had sex with your spouse in months, truly laughed together, or had deep meaningful conversation in recent memory, burnout in the workplace is also likely happening.  If your kids barely acknowledge you or look up from their iPhone when you walk in the door, or if you have no idea what their current struggles are in life, burnout in the workplace is likely also happening.  If your idea of tithes and offerings is seeing more patients, or your spiritual connection and growth is stagnant, and you have no outlet or support to be truly vulnerable, burnout in the workplace is likely also happening.  If the drive to expand as a physician has been parked, or the sense of growing new skill sets and mindsets is dead, and you resent Monday morning for what the week is about to dump on you, burnout in the workplace is likely also happening.

Imagine living a life where you could look back at the end of the day and answer the question, “Did I win today?” with a yes.  For me, a “yes” answer comes at the end of the day when I have: fueled my body and exercised; invested in my kids and someone close to me with words of love, honor or appreciation;  spent time in meditation, prayer, journaling, or contribution to my men’s group; and learned something of value in my business or in hand surgery and been able to teach it.  The story I used to run in my mind was, “I don’t have time for that,” and I believed it for years.  I’ll have you consider this: you don’t have the time to suffer the wrath of consequences when you continue to live a life out of balance and on the verge of burnout.

The Path:
I have found the following principles in action and concept propel me towards a life better lived.  A life in better harmony with greater peace and satisfaction rather than this sense of quiet desperation.  Consider them.  Try one or try them all.  What do you have to lose?

Create a Group of Friends for Accountability and Vulnerability:
No matter how broken you think you are, you are not alone.  I have a group of five men from four different states I have gotten to know after a program we all went through.  We use an app called Voxer and we go through some form of a devotional book with chapters followed by questions for discussion.  I share life with these men.  I know their pain and I know their victories.  I know their families and their struggles.  We confide in one another, we are honest with one another, we pray for one another and we hold each other accountable to our set goals.  I would recommend a group outside of medicine as it creates a new perspective.  Having the ability to be vulnerable with like-minded individuals can be extremely powerful.  A Navy SEAL once told me, “Pain shared is pain divided, happiness shared is happiness multiplied.”  A couple good books to start your journey with another group include: The Man in the Mirror by Patrick M. Morley and The Resolution for Men by Stephen and Alex Kendrick.

Invest in your Kids:
Stop being the absent parent who wants to make withdrawals all the time but never makes a deposit in to his wife and kids.  They are your legacy, yet everyday we tend to spend more time investing, educating, and listening to our patients who are complete strangers we will interact with in our lives on average 2.7 times.  Unfortunately, many of us may know our patient’s pain and struggles far more deeply than our own children’s.  Some of you have kids at home right now who are in tremendous pain, lost and feeling alone, yet you have no idea.  I have a journal for each one of my kids.  I write in their journals every morning I have them.  It is filled with words of honor, love and appreciation and they find it sitting right next to their cereal bowl when they wake up.  Imagine if today you had a journal filled with your Father’s words of encouragement written to you while you were growing up.  I also created a private email for each child and I send messages, photos or videos from our life together.  It’s like a virtual diary and I will gift this email address to them one day when they are older.  Bottom line, invest in your kids.

Go on a Walk and Talk:
This has been one of the best tools I have used to connect with my kids and also friends who I share accountability with.  The “one on one” time walking and talking with your child could just provide the key moment they need to open up and let you into their lives.  There is something magical about the combination of the physical movement which helps avoid distractions you normally get while just sitting down and the right combination of eye contact vs eyes on the road.  This little tool has allowed me to connect with my children one on one, especially on the tough topics around the divorce.  Develop and nurture the space for open dialogue between you and your children.  Wouldn’t you rather be their ear and the voice of reason they hear when it comes to the challenges of early life?  If you’re not, they will find it in the company or, even worse, the arms of another.

Date your Spouse:
When did it become okay to just be married? Think about what you did in order to win your spouse’s hand in the beginning, but we stop.  We stop making sacrifices on their behalf and we easily begin to take each other for granted.  For some of you reading this, your mind immediately goes to a defensive attitude and begins to justify your actions and all the things you think you are doing and conversely all the things you feel your spouse is not doing.  Get over yourself and control the one person in the room you can control…you.  Stop keeping score and start getting intentional.  Date night with your wife every week needs to be nonnegotiable.  If you think you don’t have time to date one another, then consider the time it takes to navigate your divorce.  A couple great books on the subject include The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick and The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman.

Invest in your Team and your Family Every Day:
And I mean Every day.  Stop being the one who is constantly seeking to spend your social currency when you have failed to deposit into the lives of others.  As a physician, you are an elite leader and you have been given a gift.  Share your gifts with those around you and build them up, especially your kids.  Get to know who they are outside of work.  Do you know their “Why” in life?  Kent Burns book, What’s Your Why, does an excellent job of using a simple format to understand the why behind the basic motivations in life for you and your employees.  Having a great team with longevity and low turnover at work creates a massive reduction in work-related stress.  Help your team create buy-in to the success of your practice instead of merely punching a time clock.

Start Telling the Truth:
Be honest with others and even more importantly, be honest with yourself.  You are exactly where you are today as the result of the multitude of decisions you have made along the way.  Different decisions, different station in life.  Stop lying to yourself and living the life of a victim.  A victim to a troubled healthcare system, victim to a failing marriage, victim to the disconnection with your kids, victim to your mounting debt, victim to your addictions, etc.  Once we stop feeding our own stories we create the space to go to inquiry.  Here, we can begin to start asking more powerful questions of ourselves and gaining back some of the agency in our lives.  In her book, The Right Questions, Debbie Ford takes you on a path of discovery by simply challenging you to ask yourself more powerful questions.

Have the Crucial Conversations Early Enough and Often Enough:
This includes your patients, staff, partners and administrators but more importantly, your spouse and kids.  The temporary pain of an uncomfortable conversation will far outweigh the consequences of your silence.  Think of the number of times you may have avoided long term negative outcomes if you just had the courage to have the crucial conversations.  The lack of communication was one of the greatest contributors to the failure of my marriage and the resentment I harbored.  A great book called Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson is worth the read for the knowledge you may take away not only in managing conversations with your spouse, but also in the workplace.

Take Care of your Body:
Your health will get you in the end.  There are no exceptions.  I’m not just talking about the extra weight you are carrying but also all the other areas we tend to neglect our bodies.  How many of you have actually seen your dentist this year, had you eyes checked, had a physical by your PCP or gotten some blood work?  In the past I would go years.  Why we neglect the very vehicle that allows us to navigate life is beyond me, especially as physicians ourselves.  I can’t emphasize the importance of this recommendation as it ties so closely to many other facets of our lives.  The fire you feel after a morning sweat before taking on the challenges of the day can be intoxicating.  The confidence you feel walking in to a room when you are in shape, with clothes that fit and a spouse who looks at you with that same attraction, is possible.  How many of you make excuses to play with your kids or participate in activities because you have no energy or just physically can’t do it?  When did the “Dad Bod” become an acceptable form of comedic endearment?  Take responsibility for your physical health.  You only get one body.

Play the Long Game vs the Sprint:
I have interviewed several older patients over the years and almost all say they would have worked a little longer in their careers but taken the time to play more along the way.  They would have spent more time with their parents before they passed, gone on more vacations, watched more plays and sporting events and taken the more adventuresome vacations while their health still allowed.  My father once challenged me when I told him I was working so hard now so I could retire early.  He asked me, “How do you know you’re not going to want to still work once you hit retirement age?”  My father is almost 70 and still runs his company, on his terms, and derives great purpose from still being in the game.  Are you red-lining in life or are you slow and steady?  So live for today and do it before it’s too late.  Take those challenging vacations today while you still have the physical capacity to actually do it.  We all seem to have some of the “someday I’d like to…” in all of us.  Unfortunately many of us won’t, especially when it comes to vacations and adventures that require some level of fitness.  It could be as simple as a ski trip or something more intense like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Statistically, with each passing year, what your body is capable of decreases.

Give More to Get More:
Give more time and more money.  Do a mission trip.  Get back to the roots of what made you pursue medicine in the first place.  Some of the greatest satisfaction I have felt in medicine was during my medical missions with LIGA International.  Include your team and family if you can.  Feed My  Starving Children has been a mainstay event for me and my kids every year.  The sense of giving and the focus on others less fortunate can create massive perspective and reduce your animosity and burnout.

Deepen your Faith:
I am not suggesting one religion over another.  My choice happens to be Christianity.  Your faith can provide a tremendous amount of perspective to the consuming work stress.  My faith has allowed me to tame my judgement of others, to love people for who they are and where they are in life.  I have even grown in my faith to the point of holding the hand of a patient, praying for them or their family over tragic events or a loss. It is difficult to put into words the overwhelming sense of love, connection and peace I have felt with my patients when I have had the courage to pray with them.  In my darkest hours I held on closely to the words of Jeremiah 29:12  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  For those of you who have struggled over religion and faith, I challenge you to at least explore your thoughts around the subject.  Be objective.  Two books I highly recommend include: The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and God Forsaken by Dinesh D’Souza.

Measure Backwards:
We have spent our entire adult lives working towards something: college, med school, internship, residency, fellowship, first job, etc., etc.  Too often, we fail to look back and appreciate our success and just how far we have come.  Instead, once we hit our goal, we are always already looking toward the next horizon.  The problem is, you can never actually reach the horizon no matter how hard you try.  It’s impossible.  In Dan Sullivan’s book Learning How to Avoid the Gap, he contrasts the difference between successfully happy people and equally successful, but unhappy people.  The striking difference was the successful people’s ability to measure backwards and appreciate where they came from and their ability to be present in the moment with their current success.  Too often, we continue to look ahead over and over, failing to capture the essence of the present.  “Be where you are when you are there.”  Dr. Anthony Chilla, a mentor of mine once told me, but it took me years to get the lesson.  We are forever in pursuit of the next thing, the next degree, the next goal, the next accomplishment, the next fellowship, the next partnership change, or whatever.  Eventually you wake up one day and have to ask yourself, is this it?  Have I arrived and for what?

Know and Control Your Addictions:
We all have them.  All of us.  What are the things robbing you of your time, energy, and productivity?  It does not have to be the typical drugs or alcohol.  For some of you, it’s your phone, or social media, pornography, shopping, shame and guilt, self sabotage, etc.  Some of our addictions masquerade as healthy habits.  If you dig deeper into the “why” around your behaviors, often times you find a deeper pathology.  There was a period of time in my life where I sedated in my own fitness.  I became a triathlete and ultimately completed an Ironman.  In reality, I was hiding from the disconnection in my marriage.  The destruction is obvious with some addictions; however, you may need to dig a little deeper into what is driving your behaviors before you can make meaningful change.  Unfortunately, we can also become addicted the very thing we feel is the cause of our burnout: work.

Meditate:
The act of meditation can be so powerful.  It can massage the nervous system and give yourself a nice “system reboot” when you need it most.  I have practiced meditation over the lunch hour even if it’s just for five minutes to mentally prepare myself for the afternoon clinic full of patients.  I have also used this technique before I get home at night with my kids.  It can be an excellent way to clear your head and get present before you walk in the door.  There are apps like Headspace and many other options to help you get started.  Start slow and simple but commit yourself to the process for at least 30 days.

Have an Attitude of Gratitude:
I remember driving to clinic one morning and seeing a landscaper on the side of the street digging irrigation lines with a shovel.  It occurred to me, this guy has been digging a ditch since sunrise in the blistering Phoenix heat and I’m just now on my way to my air-conditioned clinic driving my air-conditioned, high-end car.  He would still be digging on my way home that evening.  I also realized I’ll make more that day than he will all week.  I get it, we earned it, and we have way more stress.  I’ll also have you consider the physiologic response to stress is felt whether you are an hour behind in clinic with upset patients or whether the landscaper is an hour behind digging a ditch with a screaming foreman hovering over him.  Sometimes we have to remind ourselves how fortunate we are for the occupations we earned the right to perform.  An occupation that rewards us financially more than 95% of the population and more importantly, allows us to make an immediate difference in the lives of others.  Take a moment and deliberately celebrate a success each day over a patient you touched.  The impact is greater if you actually write it down.  Imagine how they would add up over time.

Write your own Eulogy today:
Seriously, close your eyes and picture it.  As you watch your own funeral from above, how would people say you lived your life?  What would they say about you as a person, spouse, member of society, and yes, as a physician?  Who would be crying at your funeral? Who would be there and who would eulogize your life?  Are you hearing what you want to hear and is this how you want your legacy to be remembered?  I’ve done this exercise, with journal in hand, tears in my eyes, sitting in a cemetery.  It’s an extremely powerful exercise when you commit to the process.  It can awaken a deep desire and immediate drive to change how you are living your dash.  “The Dash,” as described in the poem by Linda Ellis, is the time between your birth and your death as stated on your tombstone.  It’s a powerful read and worth your time.  If the eulogy doesn’t have you with tears in your eyes or motivated to change, try writing your last letter.  The letter you would write if you knew you had one day to live.  To whom would you write it and what would you say?  Is it filled with powerful memories, a celebration of life, advice to your children, or maybe apologies and regrets?  What are you learning about yourself with this exercise and what are you committed to changing as a result?   A cemetery is very powerful place.  It is filled with thousands of buried dreams from the souls of countless men and woman who never had the courage to pursue them.

Learn to Say “NO.”
We have forgotten how to say, “No.”  Maybe it’s a sense of moral obligation, but perhaps it’s even simpler; money or the fear of losing a referral source.  Ironic and pathetic how often we push ourselves and the staff members around us to do more and more by saying ‘Yes” to the add-on, yet we still say “No” to making our kid’s parent-teacher conference or soccer practice.  We spend what seemed like a lifetime during training always saying yes.  Yes to everything.  Yes to helping with the extra surgery despite being post call.  Yes to doing rounds on your Saturday off in an effort to win the ortho surgery spot.  Now it’s yes to the add-on infected finger at 4pm from a good referral Doc when you know it is going to need washed out, instead of keeping your planned date night with your kids.  Learning to detach from the stories around saying “no” from the outcomes I feared would happen was a major turning point to gaining further freedom and peace.

Live Beneath your Means:
So much of the stress we place upon ourselves could be reduced if we did not have the massive weight of debt we immediately place ourselves under.  Why do we always seem to let our expenditure rise to meet our income?  When you live beneath your means there is a tremendous amount of freedom.  Eventually you wake up one day and realize you are working because you want to and not because you have to.  Too often I see colleagues investing in their second homes only to barely use them after two years yet the money pit and stress persists.  Will Davis Jr., in his book Enough, does an excellent job describing the pitfalls of living beyond your means.

Simplify your Life:
Reduce decision fatigue, automate and delegate what you can.  Before you add something to your life, ask yourself if it really is going to bring you long term fulfillment or temporary happiness?  I have paid for more tech junk in my house only to have it drive me insane when it breaks, costs me more money to update or, invariably, I don’t use it.  The stuff we cram in to our lives creates more headaches than it is worth.  Keep life simple.  There is freedom in knowing you can afford it but don’t need it.

Delegate to Others:
You are a top 5% wage earner or better.  Stop wasting your precious time doing things you can easily delegate to others at a much lower pay level.  I’m not suggesting any of us are above doing meal prep, washing our car, getting our dry cleaning or mowing our own lawns.  I do, however, remember the anxiety of all those things piling up waiting for me to do after a long day in clinic or work week.  Automate your life and simplify.  Get help for you and your spouse.  You may just be surprised how much it actually frees up time for your relationships: spouse, kids, and friends.  Imagine your group’s CEO spending his day stuffing envelopes.  Would you define this as a good use of his high dollar time…no, of course not. So stop doing it yourself.

Create Space Through Systems and Automation:
You should not have to hit any button on your EMR someone with a lower pay scale could be pushing.  As a physician, understand you are the rate limiting factor in the flow of your office patients.  Only do what only you can do…evaluate patients, make decisions, and deliver care.  One of the single greatest changes I made in my clinic was the addition of a scribe.  It literally changed my life.  I actually have a lunch hour and every note is complete as soon as the last patient leaves my clinic.  I do not do any charting or dictating at home at all.  I will also run two rooms in the operating room when my volume justifies.  For years, I let the guilt placed upon me by my anesthesiologist prevent me from running two rooms despite the fact everyone wins but the anesthesiologist who now has to split his cases.  Take control of the opportunities to work efficiently and earn back more of our most precious resource: time.

In Summary:
I’m humbled to share with you my journey and the path of self discovery I have had over the last few years.  When asked to write about burnout, I did not want to reiterate some basic points I could snag off a Google search and turn in something you have already heard.  My attempt was to speak to you from the heart and share my struggles, my defeats, and some principles resulting in positive change in my life.  I want colleagues who may resonate with this message to know they are not alone and there is still time to write a different ending to their story.  I may have been too late to change the first Book of my life.  In the darkness of my pit, I did not have the eyes to see the light in the night that would ultimately become Book #2…and I like the way it’s being written.