Articles related to WORK-LIFE BALANCE

At what point is it appropriate to stop responding to patient inquiries? This editorial piece argues that taking patient calls at all hours is leading to physician burnout, and that it is time to realize that taking patient calls at home is an antiquated practice that needs to go the way of the doctor’s house call.

An oncologist reflects on his last decade as a physician and what he’s learning through the art of oncology — the daily practice that is outside the latest data and is often not explicitly taught in fellowship — that has become ever more important and gratifying. Age, a changing work environment, a pandemic and telemedicine, reports of physician burnout, and colleagues leaving practice — all part of the daily routine. Here, the oncologist shares a few key rules that that have helped and sustained his practice.

From the American Red Cross to volunteering overseas, there are plenty of feel-good “enlistments” out there for the practicing or retired physician, which can help ward off boredom and burnout while adding the benefit of perhaps learning a new skill or meeting new people. Whether your goals are short-term or you’re in for the long haul, here are nine opportunities to help humanity and feel good about the part you’re playing in the world.

Let’s be honest, some medical specialties are easier than others, offering better hours at higher rates of pay and with less stress. However, for every doctor whose specialty affords them time on the golf course, there are other specialties that leave physicians trapped in a spiraling cycle of unpredictable hours, bad pay, and terrible work-life balance. How does your specialty measure up?

Expecting perfection when it comes to charting? Are you overly self-critical, telling yourself you’ll never get the charts done or you’re just not good at it? Do you go too big, watching your “identity-forming” charting spiral out of control? Keep calm and listen to this KevinMD.com podcast from Dr. Gail Gazelle, an internal medicine physician and the author of the book Everyday Resilience, who shares helpful advice for doctors struggling with these three mistakes.

In this KevinMD.com podcast/article, the nurse practitioner sums up their current feelings in the last words of the piece: “If I leave now, I still deal with this for months, plus all of my patient’s grief and feelings of betrayal. If I stay, maybe it will get better. It could hardly get worse. But in the end, I don’t want to lose myself either, and at some point, there has to be a line that is too far. It is just hard to know what that is anymore.”