PHP and Addiction Resources
The MSDC Physician Health Program is a private, confidential, non-disciplinary program that works to advocate for the health and well-being of all physicians in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area and to safeguard the public.
The Program
is HIPAA compliant and protects the confidentiality of participant records as set forth under DC and Federal law. The program is administered by the Medical Society of DC and is separate from the DC Board of Medicine.
Learn more about this program at our Healthy Physician Foundation page
Support Your Colleagues
Do you want to help support your fellow physicians going through their own struggles? The Healthy Physician Foundation supports the PHP and our efforts to supports physicians in need. Your generous gift allows MSDC to continue this important program and extend our reach to all physicians.
HBR: Are You Responsible for You and Your Team's Burnout?
The article addresses burnout as a whole and does not focus on the medical profession. It uses the World Health Organization's (WHO) addition of burnout in the ICD-11 and subsequent clarification of burnout as an occupational phenomenon to explore how to best address the condition.
The article points to Christina Maslach's research and a recent Gallup survey on workplace burnout. According to the survey, the top five reasons for workplace burnout are:
- Unfair treatment at work
- Unmanageable workload
- Lack of role clarity
- Lack of communication and support from manager
- Unreasonable time pressure.
They are healthy birds, singing away as they make their way into the cave. But, when they come out full of soot and disease, no longer singing, can you imagine us asking why the canaries made themselves sick? No, because the answer would be obvious: the coal mine is making the birds sick.
The article goes on to describe how basic listening techniques go a long way to addressing burnout issues. Maslach again talks about burnout as a series of pebbles - a bunch of small irritants that wear down a person.
The article ends by listing some solutions to burnout (which are best read in the original) but prompts a few questions for physicians. If you are a practice owner/partner, or a hospital executive, what steps are you proactively taking to address burnout? If you are an attending, what steps are you taking to change your workplace culture? And how can your medical society's wellbeing program help?
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