Physician Burnout & Wellness
Are you feeling emotionally, physically, and/or mentally exhausted in your current role? Are you having persistent feelings of cynicism, negativity and/or loss of career purpose? If so, it’s quite possible you may be experiencing burnout.
We help you create healing programs for your team and concrete steps for individual clinicians toward their own healing and wellness.
Listen to Dr. Sutingco’s podcast titled,
“Resilience: How My Daughter Helped Me at the Mountaintop”
Video: Dr. Malissa Wood, MGH,
kicks off a group discussion about personal burnout and Wellness. 5 minutes.
Listen to Dr. Franke’s podcast titled,
“Identifying Burnout in Self and Finding that Zest for Practice”
“I served as the Medical Director of a large (50+) Adult Hospital Medicine group for three years. I worked with Jim as a leadership coach during this interval… the interactions with him were transformative. Jim helped me keep a broad perspective and identify growth paths that were mine and mine alone. His assessments and analysis of our group and of the leadership team gave me an unparalleled amount of clarity for our next steps. When I decided to step down from my position and take a leadership break, I sought Jim’s advice and expertise once again. The return from Medical Director to peer provider, was a soft landing, thanks to Jim’s advice and perspective. I feel fortunate that I had a chance to work with him and I am looking forward to doing so in the future. “
Dr. Andrei I.
Multicare Inpatient Specialists
” I am very grateful that Jim has walked me through my recovery from burn out. He introduced me to many tools. He also helps me improve my communication skills. It can be tough finding your words when you are swimming in confusion and exhaustion. He has assisted me with finding words to express myself and also has improved my communication with others, so it it is now more efficient and positive. I can now be more assertive and confident”
Dr. C.
Johns Hopkins Medicine
“Many thanks to Jim McKenna for his wonderful presentation to our hospital medicine group on recognizing and addressing burnout! His depth of experience, warmth, good humor and empathy were on full display. The process helped us notice where we were doing a good job organization-wise, and where we have opportunities to support staff better/differently. We learned so much that is valuable to our group and our leadership, plus had a bit of fun and enjoyed ourselves. During the interactive workshop, the participants’ collegiality came out often, which we recognize as a vital part of our future wellness success. “
Dr. Catherine Washburn
Hospitalist, Collaborative Inpatient Medical Service (CIMS); Instructor, Johns Hopkins University
“When you have executives, moved to the extent of directly, immediately reaching out to you personally to share what they are committed to doing differently, based on a roundtable session led by Jim, you know you are working with a professional. Don’t let Jim’s understated way fool you; he is dealing impactful straight talk, straight from his heart to yours. You will be absorbed into listening to what he says, and excited to follow the suggestions he invokes.”
Ann Louise Tisdale-Ramos
Senior Manager | Talent Development
Envision Healthcare | Envision Physician Services
I had the great opportunity to work with Jim through the Irish Cardiology Society. He provided excellent career and leadership coaching to several Specialist Registrars through webinars and workshops. He taught me how to reflect on my own stressors and develop resilience strategies in order to prevent burn out. He has a great way of making you feel relaxed, is a great listener and communicator. Jim taught us to look after ourselves and inspired us to strive for healthy, happy and successful careers.
Vivienne Sullivan
Cardiology SpR at Tallaght University Hospital, Ireland
It has been a pleasure to work with James over the past twelve months developing a wellbeing and resilience programme for cardiology trainees in Ireland. James’s knowledge and insights on these topics coupled with his inclusive approach, facilitated the trainee group as they explored, developed and implemented a programme driven by needs identified by themselves. His ability to guide both group and one to one sessions is very impressive and the Irish cardiology trainee group have benefited greatly from working with James and having exposure to his expertise.
Barbra Dalton
Executive Administrator, Irish Board for Training in Cardiovascular Medicine. Dublin, Ireland.
Physician burnout affects about half of American practicing physicians (Source: American Medical Association). Hospitals, clinics, the whole health care environment—with its packed work days, demanding pace, time pressures, and emotional intensity—can put physicians and other clinicians at high risk for burnout.
Thus, my goal is to provide physicians with the support they need, so that they, in turn, can provide the best possible care for their patients. Inherent in that goal is helping physicians reconnect to the joy and meaning in their work that will help them remain whole and well, in order to do their great work.
The good news for physicians and for healthcare in the US at the moment, is that this topic – burnout – is getting more press and attention that it has at any point in the US in the recent past. Multiple factors are contributing to the fact that an open dialogue about physician burnout is more likely to happen today than it did even as recently as five years ago.
Organizations, physician leaders and other groups are addressing burnout on a grander scale, while offering additional resources to clinical teams, individual physicians and other care givers, to help them cope, heal, and continue to move forward with new skills for what’s next in their lives and careers, according to their own needs and situation.
Experts agree that since the factors contributing to burnout can originate from the systemic clinical environment, responses and solutions toward improved wellness are a shared responsibility between the organization, and the individual physician provider.
With that in mind, there are different supportive resources available to physicians and health care providers based on their needs and preferences. Those resources may include internal Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and/or therapy offered by the organization.
Many teams and individual physicians have also turned toward individual, confidential Coaching to support them in their goals to maximize wellness and minimize burnout. In an article titled, “Personal Best”, Dr. Atul Gawande discussed his experience with a personal coach to help him to continue to elevate his own performance.
To understand what personalized coaching can do for you, contact James McKenna for a free, confidential dialogue. Together, we’ll discuss what a coaching engagement can look like for you and what you can expect to achieve in the process. To see some testimonials from other physicians who have appreciated the coaching engagements, please visit the “testimonials” page.
Infectious Disease Doctor Andy Catanzaro, Adventist Health, and Leadership Coach James McKenna, grab a coffee in Bethesda, MD.
Inova Connections Dinners: Bringing Joy Back to Medicine
To understand more about the coaching process itself, please click on “Coaching Process”. Or, just ask James about it during your call.