NEPA Vital Signs - Summer Fall 2019 - 22

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Our physical and emotional well-being is of critical importance
to our patients as well as ourselves, but many of us find it difficult
to give ourselves permission for self-awareness and self-care. The
champions we admire pay attention to improving themselves from
many perspectives, and so should we. Let's commit to improving
our resilience and adopting positive methods to deal with stress.
Dr. Ronald Epstein and Dr. Michael Krasner, commenting on
an article about Physician Resilience by Dr. Julika Zwack and Dr.
Jochen Schweitzer (ref. 1), offer:
"strategies and recommendations for developing and
maintaining physician resilience. These recommendations
fall into three categories: (1) self-awareness and selfmonitoring, (2) self-regulation and resilience, and (3)
pubic accountability, communities of care, and health
care institutions." (ref. 2)
Zwack and Schweitzer describe resilience strategies and useful
attitudes, and conclude with tips on how we can become more
resilient. Let's examine stress using the five senses.

As Providers,
We Need to
Reduce Our
Stress

VISION: How do you look to others? Since as a group we are
quite analytical and pay attention to detail, physicians usually present very well and make a good
impression. But how about the surroundings
where you practice? Any problems you see that
are simple to control are worth fixing. Tell the
janitor to clean up that dust bunny hopping
around the stairwell. I'll never forget walking
along with my professor, who hurried after a
woman who was bleeding from a blood
draw site in her arm. It took only a few minutes to
help her, but it made a big difference.

ll of us as medical providers have a
tendency to get burned out a bit, sometimes more acutely than others. While
we can't control every factor that feeds into our
stress, we can control how we react to those
external factors and the extent to which we
focus on self-care.

AUDITORY: How does it sound where you are
working? I remember working in a huge intermediate intensive care unit, trying to ignore
a high-pitched squeal distracting us for several
minutes until one of the nurses asked the person
responsible to stop it. I'm certain it was negatively affecting
the patients as well as the staff and visitors.
SMELL: Rarely is a physician out of order in the odor department
on their own, but others may not always adhere to the same standards or even realize there is a problem. I had to speak with one
sharp-looking consultant recently and was trying to get past the
surrounding house staff when I ran into a barrier
of halitosis coming from the consultant. I'm
still thinking of what to tell him the next
time I approach. Odors are a lot easier to
control in the office than in the hospital,
and know who to request that the source
be cleaned or isolated.

It's no secret that doctors, nurses and other
healthcare providers are among the worst
patients when it comes to following directions
and taking care of ourselves. We are famous for
ignoring the same practical advice we would
give our patients, yet expect our outcomes will
somehow be different.
N E PA

VITAL SIGNS

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NEPA Vital Signs - Summer Fall 2019

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