April 2017 #pulmCC Twitter Chat—Caring for the Caregiver: Vulnerability and Burnout
By: Drs. Gabe Bosslet, Chris Carroll, and Adam Hill
April 10, 2017
Join us Thursday, April 20, at 8:00 pm CT as we discuss another hot topic in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. The topic? Clinician burnout and vulnerability. Drs. Chris Carroll and Gabriel Bosslet will be joined by Dr. Adam Hill during this #pulmCC chat.
Recently, much attention has been paid to the epidemic of clinician depression and suicide. Numbers have been touted, reasons posited, and solutions proposed. And each of those numbers represents a story of struggle and difficulty that is somehow exacerbated in the process of creating and sustaining life as a clinician.
Two articles were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which shed light on stories of depression and burnout. While it is terrific that such a prestigious journal has chosen to give space to highlight these two stories, it is only two—many, if not all, of us have stories of struggle, failure, triumph, and moments when we felt pulled in too many directions. As clinicians who have chosen to care for the sickest of the sick, we are prone to magnify failures and patient loss and minimize wins: This can be an assault on self-worth and a setup for burnout.
In our April #pulmCC Twitter chat, we will discuss clinician burnout and vulnerability. Why vulnerability? Because the sharing of stories and vulnerable moments can be an antidote to shame and feelings of failure.
Our Twitter will also feature our special guest Dr. Adam B. Hill from Indiana University, who shared his story of struggle in Breaking the Stigma — A Physician’s Perspective on Self-Care and Recovery.
We hope you will join us on Thursday, April 20, at 8:00 pm CT!
Topics:
T1. What factors lead clinicians to have higher rates of depression, suicide, and burnout?
T2. What have you struggled with and what healthy mechanisms have you developed to cope?
T3. What can the medical community do to lessen these struggles for individual clinicians?
T4. What roles can vulnerability, transparency, and candor play in clinician burnout?
Readings and Resources