Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/384013
P H Y S I C I A N R E C R U I T M E N T REGULAR INTROSPECTION CAN PROTECT HEAVILY BURDENED PHYSICIANS FROM THE BURNOUT THAT PROMPTS MANY TO SEEK EMPLOYMENT ELSEWHERE OR LEAVE MEDICINE ALTOGETHER. IT MAY ALSO BOLSTER HEALTHCARE FACILITIES' RETENTION RATES — AND THEREBY REDUCE THE NEED FOR COSTLY RECRUITMENT EFFORTS. A number of facilities across the country have pursued the goal of fostering physician well-being by affi liating with the Boston-based Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare. The center was founded to help medical professionals provide better care by being in touch with their emotions. "After [healthcare attorney] Ken Schwartz's death in 1995, his family, friends and caregivers came together to think about how to advance what Ken called 'compassionate care,'" explains Beth Lown, MD, Medical Director of The Schwartz Center, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and general internist at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Staff [at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center] said what they really needed was a safe place to talk about diffi cult emotional and psychosocial issues they faced in caring for patients and their families." The Schwartz Center Rounds program was born of those ideas and is now in more than 350 healthcare facilities nationwide. Monthly or bimonthly sessions feature a physician leader who selects a case to discuss. Caregivers then share their personal perspectives. "Many caregivers today are anxious, frustrated and under pressure, with no structured outlet for expressing their feelings and little preparation for the diffi cult communication issues that are an inevitable part of caring for patients and families," Dr. Lown says. "Healthcare organizations can mediate the factors that degrade the psychological and emotional wellness of physicians and provide infrastructure, interventions and incentives to promote wellness. Studies of programs that train clinicians in self-care, self-compassion and mindful communication have shown that participants can acquire the skills needed to avoid burnout." ■ By Rachel Stewart W H Y P H YS I C I A N S Q U IT — O R M I G H T N OT A 2012 REPORT in the Archives of Internal Medicine states that physicians in the United States suffer more burnout than profes- sionals in any other fi eld nationwide. In a Medscape survey, 39.8 percent of physicians indicated they were burned out, with emergency medicine and critical care physicians faring the worst. Specialties such as family medicine and internal medicine aren't far behind, though. In an online piece for Boston NPR station WBUR's Common Health, former internist Diane Shannon, MD, describes how constant worry about medical errors led her to leave clinical medicine behind. "Physicians … never ask me why I left," Dr. Shannon writes. "Instead, they ask me how." Highlighting the importance of outlets such as The Schwartz Center Rounds program, in which physicians and other healthcare workers can share their struggles, she adds, "If I'd had a safe place … to express my emotions, … perhaps I would have developed the resilience I needed to continue practicing medicine." De-stressing Physicians to Improve Retention Rates 1 4 | Greater Boston MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M