DOCTORS’ LOUNGE
merge identity with others like you, which
increases the excitement. In anonymity, in
the safety of numbers, you feel less constrained by the bounds of courtesy and
social norms. You lose self-awareness and
self-restraint, and so you might do things
you would never do alone. The payoff for
the mob mentality, they say, is that you can
blame your behavior on the mob, and not
take personal responsibility. The KKK wear
hoods: they hide their own names, and proclaim their mob name.
Those of us who remember civil rights
marches, and riots, and antiwar marches
(and riots), also remember our country’s
shameful history of lynch mobs. No matter
whom you support, there is never a justification to become part of a mob. Gandhi
and Dr. Martin Luther King taught civil
disobedience: ruggedly nonviolent protest,
perhaps at great personal cost.
As doctors we bear a moral responsibility
to treat everyone the same. Never should
we hide behind the mask of a mob. Never should we stoop to fascist bigotry and
anger. Never should we look at a person
and see anything but their human need for
connection, for trust, for treatment. We are
always and forever bound to help, not harm.
As Americans, we profess to believe that all
men are created equal. Especially as doctors,
we must behave as though we mean it.
Dr. Barry practices Internal Medicine with
Norton Community Medical Associates-Barret. She is a clinical associate professor at the
University of Louisville School of Medicine,
Department of Medicine.
PHYSICIAN BURNOUT
(MINDFULNESS)
Waqar Aziz, MD
“Health is a state of
complete physical,
mental and social
well-being and not
merely the absence of
disease or infirmity”
- World Health Organization
As the demands
on physicians’ time increase and life becomes even more burdensome with new
regulations, physician burnout - even in the
early days of practice - is becoming more
and more prevalent. Typically, it manifests
itself with low energy, exhaustion, lack of
empathy, compassion, attrition, low work
satisfaction, anxiety and stress. These signs
unfortunately do not just stay at work, but
go home as well. Physicians often do not
participate in healthy activities to maximize their own health. While the burnout
is insidious, the effects of it can appear in
every aspect of a physician’s personal, social
and work life. Stress in any situation is not
good, but for physicians it is particularly
worrisome as it affects work and domestic
life. As we practice under an accumulating
wealth of regulations we are all aware of
the damage this can cause. As the reality of
modern medicine is not going to change, we
must adjust to make accommodations with
and be happy in the work we do.
Several years ago, the University of Massachusetts started a Mindfulness Stress Behavior Reduction program (MSBR) for their
patients and since that time several major
university centers have incorporated it into
their treatment strategies. The Annals of
Family Medicine in 2013 published a paper
discussing the use of mindfulness in primary care practice. If and when practiced by
physicians, it provides a noticeable sense of
well-being, stress reduction and anxiety relief. The benefits were long lasting, even after
the program and follow-up sessions were
completed. I attended a six-week course
locally and feel that it helped me in every
aspect of my life.
So what is mindful meditation? According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, “Mindfulness means
paying attention in a certain way; on purpose, in the present moment, and, without
judging.” (Mindfulnet, 2012). Mindfulness can be practiced anywhere although
dedicating 20 minutes in a day may prove
more useful. As the awareness increases it
becomes part of a person’s daily life, and
one’s entire outlook on life can change. This
article will not go into techniques, as several books are available especially by John
Kabat-Zinn who started the Massachusetts
program. But a brief introduction should
be in order.
Mindfulness is, as the name implies, a
type of training for the mind to experience
life without being judgmental. It is nonreactive, enabling the self to recognize behaviors that are not helpful when dealing
with various situations. The mantra, “where
you are, there you are” without projecting
into the future nor living [