What is burnout and how can I avoid it? Should I buy a yoga mat? Is what I eat the answer? Am I drinking too much coffee or not enough? These are just some of the questions people ask about burnout. Burnout is common in doctors and I am a General Practitioner (GP) planning to practice medicine for at least thirty years. I love my job and I am very happy. I want to stay that way and a good GP practices preventive medicine so…what is burnout and how do you avoid it?
Last year I made a study of burnout. What is it? Why does it occur? How can I take steps to prevent it and continue to practice excellent medicine?
Last year I tried out the suggestions in the literature to see if they were right for me. I took on a monthly project to prevent burnout. I tried out everything from Yoga to napping to disconnecting from social media.
I spent twelve months looking at resilience but I do recognise that this is only part of the answer. It is great to be resilient but in some cases systemic pressures play a big role in burnout. Once again, I am lucky that I love my job, so I am going to focus on resilience rather than changing medical systems. I take my hat off to those working to improve conditions for my colleagues and applaud their work.
