Susan Landers is a neonatologist.
I miss my stethoscope—the small black one with the tiny neonatal head. I wore it around my neck constantly while on duty in the NICU and L&D. It served as an outward symbol of my knowledge and experience. Inwardly, it reminded me of all the things I could detect about a baby by simply looking, listening, and gently touching. My little stethoscope was ready in any emergency. It helped me …
In medicine, we were taught to anticipate, diagnose, and predict conditions. Examining our patients allows us to assess the problem and make a plan. We generally know what is coming next unless some action or treatment is taken.
Personal and professional transitions are unlike medical conditions because we can rarely predict what will occur. Our life transitions can seem demanding, often onerous, because we female humans do not like change. In …
We have a big problem in this country. A recent poll found that half of U.S. physicians are still burned out. When Medscape surveyed 9,000 physicians across 29 specialties this year, they found that 49% of physicians report being burned out, and 20% report they are depressed. Physicians in front-line specialties who deliver primary care continue to be the most often affected.
A higher prevalence of female doctors (56%) report …
I suffered through burnout twice in my career. Each episode was similar in that feelings of fatigue, exhaustion, and emotional overwhelm were predominant. Each time I felt like a failure as a mother and a physician. However, each episode of burnout differed by involving different triggers and calling into focus different aspects of my work-life imbalance.
For each episode of burnout, I was able to employ some particular methods to recover. …
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