Healthy workplaces create healthy patients. Seek these out and share them with staff and colleagues. There are plenty of AAFP and other resources to help physicians and their care teams positively impact their own well-being and the well-being of their workplaces, communities, and health systems. Physicians who prefer to go it alone can burn themselves out on any project, including well-being projects. Small efforts to improve individual and care team well-being and create a culture shift in your practice include spreading continual gratitude to one another, establishing strategies and protocols to make tasks less burdensome, developing a well-being task force, and incorporating physician well-being as a topic on board agendas and when selecting executive leaders.ĭon’t go it alone. However, most physicians find that steady, incremental change is rather successful. Some physicians will experience a major life change that leads to their well-being.

Well-being is achieved one step at a time. 13 It also applies to those who provide care. Regular exercise, attention to relationships, spiritual development, hobbies, leisure activities, spending time outdoors, and vacation time shouldn’t only be prescriptions for better psychological and physiological functioning for our stressed-out patients. Studies have shown that a few moments of daily reflection of gratitude can have a similar effect on your mood as taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Spending a moment recalling something amazing in your life can change your frame of reference for the task ahead. The amygdala, your emotional processing center, is a terrible multi-tasker. A single, slow, and deep abdominal breath has been shown to help reset your sympathetic/parasympathetic system and prepare you for the encounter or challenge that awaits you. While working toward system-level changes, here are some individual skills or practices to bring balance to your experience as a physician: While there are many individual skills we can learn to support our well-being, the systems we work in strain our natural resilience. If you are a naturally bold person, consider what you can do to draw some of your more reserved colleagues into your work. If you are a naturally quiet person, now is the time to lead quietly and learn skills of boldness. Not everyone’s personality lends itself to a bold and commanding leadership style.

It doesn’t matter how much you study if you’ve never led or strived to become a positive force for change. Study how and what they learn and model them. Ask the leaders you admire about the books, podcasts, YouTube channels, journals, conferences, TED Talks, and other resources they consume. There is an abundance of leadership training available. Study leadership development trends and tools. Successful leaders learn that the best traits for success include motivating staff, partnering with other leaders, listening to feedback, and supporting their teams through their successes and failures. Leaders don’t always have the best ideas and shouldn’t do all the work themselves. Don’t undervalue your power, influence, and talent. Family physicians’ skills, patience, training, and abilities are similar attributes that make great leaders in other disciplines.

Quadruple aim healthcare