Texoma Living Well Magazine November/December 2018 | Page 41
males. Some of them are:
• The perception from others of you in terms of perfor-
mance (can she really do it?)
• Recognition of your value (is she for real?)
• Others accepting the fact that you have authority (who
does she thinks she is?)
• Commitment to work (if she is single without kids she
might have more time until she becomes a mom or gets
married/maybe not do the job? If she is a mom al-
ready, then she has other priorities that are more im-
portant besides the job?)
• Gender pay gap (same job but sometimes men
get offered more money, why?) and many more...
Like a colleague of mine said, “We have to constantly show
our performance and efficiency way more than men.” This
leads me to my first topic.
Stress and Burning Out
“When there is awareness, there is opportunity.”
With stress you recover in your time off. With burn out,
you are not able to recover in your time off which follows a
downward spiral. It begins a bit before medical school and
then continues. The competition, poor sleep, pressures, skip-
ping exercise, skipping social events, poor eating, feeling
not good enough, depression, dealing with patient deaths,
inability to accomplish obligations out of the medical prac-
tice, not having quality time with loved ones, a decrease
in the sense of personal accomplishments, and in more
recent years, all the times spend in administrative activities.
As many as 50% of physicians suffer from burnout, which
depends a lot on organization environment, specialty, sat-
isfaction with job, age, work/life situation. Women under
45 years old are more likely to burn out than men. Studies
show that women physicians are less productive. Really? I
don’t call it less productive; I call it we are undervalued.
As stated above, we women are wired for connection
and wear many hats. Female physicians are more likely
to engage and connect with patients in aspects that men
might not. Sometimes in order to have a stronger connec-
tion with a patient, a female engages in the psychosocial
aspects and needs. There is extra work in family meetings
that might not be reimbursed but there is the gratitude from
patients for making time for them. As a reality, patients of
women doctors open up more when speaking on visits,
which enhances physician productivity, patient experience
(patient satisfaction increases loyalty), and care quality.
Then why the burn out?
Women vs. Male Factors
Women pattern (The superwoman)
• Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and cynicism
(dysfunctional coping mechanism), and a decreased
feeling of accomplishment.
Male pattern
(I can do it all and keep going)
• Depersonalization and cynicism (coping mecha-
nism for stress), emotional exhaustion. Males do not
think there is a decrease in their accomplishments
or they are cynical so there is a denial of distress.
Besides the patterns above, women physicians have to deal
with domestic households, sometimes sense of guilt, shame,
their own emotional wounds (both sexes), society’s pressure
of being an excellent wife and mother (if that’s the case), and
many face condescension and discrimination by other females
and also males.
Side note: U.S. physicians have the highest suicide rate of any
profession––300 to 400 commit suicide, which in most cases,
it is maintained quiet. The University of Michigan points out
that there is a stigma that doctors have to be invincible and
not show weakness. The bad turn is that whenever there is a
need for mental health of any kind (depression, substance use,
anxiety, etc.) there is not a safe space to seek care because
of the fear of losing the license and being seen as as “weak.”
Interventions come in handy at this time.
Wellness Solutions (you can’t fix everything or everybody)
Forget about being the superwoman and just be proactive in
recognizing the signs and early warning symptoms of exhaus-
tion. If you have an office, sit down with your team weekly
and establish new techniques to simplify things while adding
value. Be more assertive and start paying attention to how you
feel and your thoughts and emotions––stop, step back, set time
to practice self-care and mindfulness, connect with yourself
again, meditate (if you are open to it), set time for exercise,
and reinforce your boundaries. Consider other factors that are
not at work such as life at home (be vulnerable and honest
about how you feel, ask for help if you have a partner/ chil-
dren and set a team environment). As another colleague said,
“We are hard wired for work, but if you get sick or drop dead
today, the world will keep turning.” Time to take action today!
Dr. Julie is a Certified Life Coach for men and women but her specialty is Women Recovery from
Addictions. By integrating recovery tools of life skills, fitness, nutrition, emotional intelligence,
mindfulness, and self-care, a woman can achieve a strong lifelong recovery.
[email protected]. www.coachdrjulie.com
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