Articles related to WORK-LIFE BALANCE

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.”

According to a study of 135,000 doctors by Doximity, male physicians made, on average, 28% more than females in 2020, a 3% increase from the 2019 numbers. The survey, along with Medscape’s poll in 2021 that showed male specialist physicians overall making 33% more than females, points to a few other large gender pay gaps, as well as some in which women doctors make salaries closer to those of men.

In this article/podcast from KevinMD.com, Dr. Kristin Yates, an OB/GYN, describes her work as a doctor, which “brings me fulfillment and joy. It makes me a better doctor.” Dr. Yates also explains: “The fact of the matter is, I am not a doctor. I am a human being. Doctoring is what I do, not who I am. This distinction is very important to me because it is what has made medicine sustainable and fulfilling.”