Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Oncologists have one of the lowest burnout rates. Why?

James C. Salwitz, MD
Physician
November 14, 2014
Share
Tweet
Share

shutterstock_33798526

The alarm clock’s blast brings hours of work, running from task to task, always pushing toward the next turn.  In moments of failure, the waves of complexity and anxiety batter and you question each stroke. Then you fly downhill, easy breeze in your face, as success urges you on.  After the finish, the parking lot empties, the lights go out, and in the quiet you are drained, achy, and left with satisfaction and the thought that perhaps you could have done better.  Tomorrow you will run the triathlon again.

How can any person be a cancer doctor, day-after-day, year after year?   A rational human being should tire and fade, exhausted by memories, loss, and the tragedy of fighting a disease, which causes such devastation.  Nonetheless, oncologists have one of the lowest burnout rates and highest “I would do it again” sentiments in all of medicine.

The people who participate in sole complex endurance sports are often slightly nutty.  I think oncologists too, are slightly nutty people who see in an extreme, partially impossible endeavor, an opportunity which appeals to a desire to be challenged, grow and most of all, give.  I suspect that their job satisfaction secret is personal preparation, self-competition and thoughtful repair, which they are blessed to combine with the immense gratification of serving their fellow man.

Oncologists are committed.  They find cancer care to be important, stimulating and fascinating.  Our moments of pain and doubt balance with the intellectual, social and emotional complexity of the task.  We need to be at that conference, in that lab, at the bedside.  We are realists who know that we cannot always heal, but we want to make a difference, great or small, and believe we always can.

Like an athlete, the key is to prepare.  A cancer doctor has a decade of formal post-college education.  These years show us not only medical science and about people with disease, but the keys to personal survival.  Experience teaches how to work under physical stress, find harmony in our lives, and to protect not only the patient, but ourselves.  We learn to support one another.

Oncologists relish the day-to-day, moment-to-moment, chaotic variation that is the practice of medicine.   We counsel a young patient with a new cancer, then analyze labs and x-rays, race to treat crushing chest pain and then we are on the phone, always a bad connection, gently trying to coax a hysterical patient to the emergency room.  Every day is exhilarating, confusing, exhausting and depressing.  Weirdly, this mix fosters satisfaction.  Always there is the need to push, fight, and heal.  The next patient is just behind that door.

A team gives the best cancer care.  Patients benefit because they have access to different skills, views and personalities. The same is true for each doctor. Having colleagues to curbside cases, review analysis and add expertise supports each physician and relieves part of the burden.  It is important to have another doctor, nurse or office colleague with whom to share, laugh or cry on a rough day.  Oncologists rarely practice alone and lean heavily on each other for substance and strength.

At night, we mend. The events we see remind us always of the beauty and frailty that is life.  Few people hug their children or spouse as tight, or so appreciate green pea mush in a baby’s hair.  Cancer docs understand the importance of exercise, good food, a loud party and the proverbial roll in the hay.  Many express themselves in art, teaching or by serving their community.  In addition, where possible, the vital need is simply to rest.

More than any other source of rejuvenation, like the swimmer, the runner, the biker, there is the roar of the crowd.  The love of our patients and their families gives nourishment to the soul.   For cancer doctors, the honor to serve is returned many fold by the kindness, which is given onto us.  We survive the worst moments on the worst day with the worst loss, because someone says, “Hey doc… how are you? Thanks for all that you do.”

Cancer is not a competition.  It is a disgusting random curse, which deprives us of our dreams, and the ones we love.  For the cancer doctor the struggle takes a triathlete’s preparation, commitment and personal healing.   Fortunately, unlike an exhausted runner who climbs a steep hill in a humid, hot, isolated gorge, we are never alone.

James C. Salwitz is an oncologist who blogs at Sunrise Rounds.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

The reading gap: Too small to fail or too big to care?

November 14, 2014 Kevin 8
…
Next

Patients should not have to advocate for their own safety

November 14, 2014 Kevin 5
…

ADVERTISEMENT

Tagged as: Oncology/Hematology

Post navigation

< Previous Post
The reading gap: Too small to fail or too big to care?
Next Post >
Patients should not have to advocate for their own safety

ADVERTISEMENT

More by James C. Salwitz, MD

  • Each line on the radiology list is a patient’s line in the sand

    James C. Salwitz, MD
  • The broader mission for hospice care

    James C. Salwitz, MD
  • Is the medical profession at its end?

    James C. Salwitz, MD

More in Physician

  • How shared language saved a patient from isolation

    Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD
  • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

    Curtis G. Graham, MD
  • The physician who turned burnout into a mission for change

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • Time theft: the unseen harm of abusive oversight

    Kayvan Haddadan, MD
  • Why more doctors are leaving clinical practice and how it helps health care

    Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA
  • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • How shared language saved a patient from isolation

      Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD | Physician
    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Clinical ghosts and why they haunt our exam rooms

      Kara Wada, MD | Conditions
    • High blood pressure’s hidden impact on kidney health in older adults

      Edmond Kubi Appiah, MPH | Conditions
    • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How declining MMR vaccination rates put future generations at risk

      Ambika Sharma, Onyi Oligbo, and Katrina Green, MD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 2 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why specialist pain clinics and addiction treatment services require strong primary care

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • Harassment and overreach are driving physicians to quit

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician
    • Why peer support can save lives in high-pressure medical careers

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • When a medical office sublease turns into a legal nightmare

      Ralph Messo, DO | Physician
    • Addressing menstrual health inequities in adolescents

      Callia Georgoulis | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Who gets to be well in America: Immigrant health is on the line

      Joshua Vasquez, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • How shared language saved a patient from isolation

      Syed Ahmad Moosa, MD | Physician
    • The shocking risk every smart student faces when applying to medical school

      Curtis G. Graham, MD | Physician
    • Clinical ghosts and why they haunt our exam rooms

      Kara Wada, MD | Conditions
    • High blood pressure’s hidden impact on kidney health in older adults

      Edmond Kubi Appiah, MPH | Conditions
    • Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How declining MMR vaccination rates put future generations at risk

      Ambika Sharma, Onyi Oligbo, and Katrina Green, MD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Oncologists have one of the lowest burnout rates. Why?
2 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...