Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

A physician, professional coach, author, and health care writer.

50 articles on KevinMD · 3 podcast episodes · Listed in Experts by KevinMD

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Articles, page 2

Physician voices

Sexism in medicine: Alive and well or a dying breed?

October 7, 2021Oct 7, 20212

Thirty-five years ago, as a first-year student, I (DWS) wrote an article for my medical school's student-run newspaper titled, "Sexism in Medical School." The article highlighted three examples of sexism: In the middle of a pathology lecture, the professor projected…

Thirty-five years ago, as a first-year student, I (DWS) wrote an article for my medical school’s student-run newspaper titled, “Sexism in Medical School.” The article highlighted three examples of sexism:

In the middle of a pathology lecture, the professor projected a photo of a woman in a skimpy bikini lounging on a sports car to “liven things up.” He then showed a photo of a kitten, “So you ladies don’t

…

Physician voices

The 5 secrets to setting boundaries at work

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

July 24, 2021Jul 24, 2021

Karen is a 35-year-old physician recently recruited to lead a newly formed department at a large academic health system. She was new to leadership and initially let the prevailing culture dictate the ways meetings were held. There were many tangential conversations and virtually no relationship building. She left each one feeling depleted and angry. “We got almost nothing done, and engagement in the meeting was minimal.”

***

Boundaries tell us where we …

Physician voices

Hello, health care organization leader, are you listening?

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

July 9, 2021Jul 9, 2021

I’m not an organizational leader, a member of the C-suite, a department chair, or a VP of anything. I’m a coach who guides physicians as they try to provide exceptional care and actually have a life. But I know a…

Here’s the thing. This is not a successful long-term strategy:

Tell exhausted clinicians and staff to “do more with

…

Physician voices

The sense of powerlessness and being a cog in a wheel is now at an all-time high

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

June 6, 2021Jun 6, 2021

Toward the end of my clinical career, I didn’t feel like I had control over much at all. The patient safety issues loomed large. We used ridiculous workarounds for broken processes. The constant vigilance to provide excellent care in a suboptimal environment was exhausting. I didn’t see anything I could change. Based on my work with physicians as a coach, I think that the sense of powerlessness and being a …

Conditions and diseases

An organizational solution to lactation support for women physicians

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

April 27, 2021Apr 27, 2021

In a previous post, I recognized lactation support for women physicians as an equity issue. Many of the women physicians I’ve interviewed have identified returning to work while breastfeeding as a major challenge and a major source of stress. Providing accommodations to ensure that these professionals have access to the resources they need to do their work is essential to creating an equitable workplace.

Soon after I published …

Physician voices

Institute policies to proactively support physicians who are breastfeeding

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

April 16, 2021Apr 16, 2021

I’ve been speaking with women physicians about the top challenges they face today. I’ve learned there are many—which honestly didn’t surprise me, given that 48 percent of women physicians report burnout symptoms (compared with 37 percent of their male counterparts).…

Several have mentioned the challenge of breastfeeding while working—rather ironic considering what is known about the health benefits for mother and infant. Maybe their colleagues and …

Physician voices

Solving imposter syndrome in physicians

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

December 16, 2020Dec 16, 2020

“I no longer start every day in dread,” Sheila (not her real name) told me as we completed a six-month coaching engagement. Her statement initially surprised me because that’s not how she described her interest in coaching when we began. She had simply and unemotionally told me that she needed a career change and didn’t want to jump into another not-quite-right situation. But as I recalled the time we spent …

Read more…

Solving imposter syndrome in physicians

Physician voices

Innovative approaches to solve physician burnout

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

April 8, 2019Apr 8, 20194

Health care organizations are moving to address clinician burnout with a real sense of urgency. It is now commonly accepted that burnout is widespread among health care professionals and has serious repercussions for patient safety and the quality of care. A report released by several major Massachusetts health care organizations labeled the situation “a public health crisis” and warned about the adverse impact “on the health and well-being …

Physician voices

How positive deviance can address clinician burnout

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

October 12, 2018Oct 12, 2018

I love the idea of turning a negative approach to improvement in health care -- looking for problems -- on its head. Appreciative inquiry, a process of focusing on a group’s inherent strengths and fostering positive interactions among group members,…

I love the idea of turning a negative approach to improvement in health care — looking for problems — on its head. Appreciative inquiry, a process of focusing on a group’s inherent strengths and fostering positive interactions among group members, is one way of fostering change with a positive approach. Positive deviance (PD) is another.

Basically, PD involves identifying what’s working and usual local solutions owned by the people involved to make …

Physician voices

Don’t let physician identity define you

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

August 3, 2018Aug 3, 2018

When I left clinical practice, I thought I was prepared for the change in my identity. Wrong. I was shocked by the degree to which my sense of myself and my value in the world were rocked by leaving the…

When I left clinical practice, I thought I was prepared for the change in my identity.

Wrong.

I was shocked by the degree to which my sense of myself and my value in the world were rocked by leaving the profession. After all, I left practice less than seven years after I could legally write MD after my name. In residency and when practicing (and even to some extent as a medical …

Read more…

Don’t let physician identity define you

Physician voices

Why physicians need disclosure coaching

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

July 17, 2018Jul 17, 20182

In March 2018, The Collaborative for Healing and Renewal in Medicine (CHARM) published an article titled "Charter on Physician Well-being" in JAMA. The piece describes guiding principles and lists recommendations for promoting well-being among physicians. The charter successfully pulls together,…

In March 2018, The Collaborative for Healing and Renewal in Medicine (CHARM) published an article titled “Charter on Physician Well-being” in JAMA. The piece describes guiding principles and lists recommendations for promoting well-being among physicians. The charter successfully pulls together, in a 2-page document, a comprehensive approach to preventing burnout and fostering well-being among physicians.

One recommendation especially caught my attention. “Anticipate and Respond to Inherent Emotional Challenges …

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Why physicians need disclosure coaching

Physician voices

Want a resilient organization? Address physician burnout now.

David Brendel, MD, PhD & Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

April 9, 2018Apr 9, 2018

Physician burnout rates hover around 50 percent, and the adverse consequences are serious. Burnout is associated with increased medical errors, suboptimal care, turnover and personal costs, including substance use, depression, and suicide. The financial cost to health care organizations is…

The financial cost to health care organizations is significant: replacing a physician is estimated to cost at least $500,000. Plus, physician turnover results in care disruption, patient access issues and lost revenue for hospitals to which the physician referred …

Physician voices

The many benefits of self-rooming patients

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

April 7, 2018Apr 7, 2018

In 2017, the flagship multispecialty practice of Oregon Medical Group, moved into its new digs -- a 46,000 square foot redesigned medical office building. Practice leaders and the 30-odd clinicians in six different specialties were committed to a coordinated patient…

In 2017, the flagship multispecialty practice of Oregon Medical Group, moved into its new digs — a 46,000 square foot redesigned medical office building. Practice leaders and the 30-odd clinicians in six different specialties were committed to a coordinated patient experience. They wanted to ensure that patients could move smoothly between sequential visits with different care providers — on the same day. To this end, the group invested in a …

Physician voices

The messages that sanctify a culture of physician burnout

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

March 11, 2018Mar 11, 20185

I realize today that shame, and the stigma about needing help if you’re a care provider, profoundly affected my career path and even my sense of identity. When I was overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed, and scared, did I reach out for help? No, I kept going until I hit a wall, burned out, and left clinical practice. After leaving, did I talk publicly about the chaotic conditions and broken system that …

Physician voices

Physician burnout is caused by systems problems. Here’s how to fix that.

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

January 18, 2018Jan 18, 20184

I am very resistant to burnout solutions that focus solely on the individual, as these seem to imply that the problem originates in the affected person. This approach pokes at a sore spot, because of the years I spent secretly worried that the reason I left practice was personal weakness or inadequacy, something I lacked or failed to do.

When in 2013, I ran across the research on burnout, I learned …

Physician voices

Fix the system to address physician burnout

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

October 31, 2017Oct 31, 20172

The prevalence of burnout among physicians is estimated to be more than 50 percent and has grown in recent years. This alarming trend is largely due to changing patient demographics, increasing cost constraints, new federal and state regulations, and other external factors that have reshaped the daily work experience of physicians. Too often today, physicians spend more time on data entry than in direct …

Physician voices

What’s the one word to improve the well-being of clinicians?

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

October 10, 2017Oct 10, 2017

Recently, I was asked an intriguing question by an interviewer: “If you had a magic wand and could have one wish for improving the well-being of clinicians and addressing burnout, what would it be?” My response? Respect. Respect for the…

My response? Respect. Respect for the humanity of everyone who touches the health care system — patients, family members, administrative staff, organizational leaders, clinical staff, clinicians, cleaning staff, parking valets, pharmacists, lab technicians, front desk staff, and …

Physician voices

For women physicians, is there a connection between productivity and burnout?

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

September 16, 2017Sep 16, 2017

Is the practice of medicine a different experience for male and female physicians? Two recent studies from athenahealth suggest that it is -- in ways that should make us rethink what we value in health care. The first study found…

Is the practice of medicine a different experience for male and female physicians? Two recent studies from athenahealth suggest that it is — in ways that should make us rethink what we value in health care.

The first study found that male physicians are more productive than their female counterparts. In an analysis of 47 million visits on the athenahealth network in 2016, male physicians generated 30 to 40 percent more …

Physician voices

Scribes for physician burnout: How scribes help reconnect doctors with their patients

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

August 3, 2017Aug 3, 201711

Recently, I had an opportunity to drop in on two of the foremost researchers in physician burnout, Sara Poplau and Mark Linzer of Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. We chatted about various aspects of the current burnout crisis and exciting new initiatives on the horizon. Then we spent some time contemplating a frustrating truth: leaders in health care often fail to acknowledge a reality that leaders in other industries …

Physician voices

What this physician practice did to fight burnout

Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH

July 10, 2017Jul 10, 20172

As a physician who left clinical medicine because of burnout and as a writer, I’m drawn to stories of physicians whose professional and personal lives have improved after reasoned interventions. So my ears jumped to attention earlier this month when a colleague at a summit on physician burnout described the positive results his practice had achieved in reducing burnout. Read Pierce, MD, is interim director of the Hospital Medicine Group …