Emergency Medicine Physicians Shouldn't Forget Their Own Health ...

Blending a healthy personal life with a career in emergency medicine can be challenging. Long hours, stressful working conditions and the heavy-hand of insurance companies and hospital administrators all conspire to demoralize even the most dedicated ER physician. The rate of suicide, substance abuse and divorce is three times higher among physicians of all kinds than the general population and there is some evidence these negative life experiences are even more prevalent among emergency room doctors.

This should come as no surprise. Patients usually enter the emergency room in a state of crisis. They are either admitted or released but in no sense are they ever as ?happy? or ?satisfied? as patients who leave the hospital after giving birth, for example, or are successfully treated by another specialty in a non-emergency setting. Emergency medicine physicians can either distance themselves emotionally from such pain or empathize with it, which is probably the more common approach. However, empathy carries its own risks, including negative physical effects which can accumulate over time.

So what?s an emergency room doctor to do? Common sense health tips such as getting enough sleep, eating right and exercising regularly are vital. Regarding sleep, ER doctors should make absolutely sure they are getting enough rest, even if it take setting an alarm clock to tell them when to go to bed! If these physicians are working nights, they should make sure other members of the family know they are absolutely not to be disturbed during daytime hours, when they should be sleeping. A well-balanced diet can help these doctors reduce stress and increase energy. And a regular exercise regimen should also be part of the normal routine of an emergency room physician, as physical activity has been positively associated with both physical and mental well-being.

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Physical activity can also ward off such effects of aging as the loss of energy, muscle mass and cognitive ability in the older emergency medicine physician. Getting enough sleep is even more important for these older EM doctors as shift work becomes increasingly difficult after age 40. Finally, vision and hearing tests are also a good idea at this career stage.

But proper sleep and exercise are just the beginning of a well-balanced lifestyle. Other considerations include building in enough family time with spouses, kids and significant others, and ensuring a healthy spiritual life. Only when we ask ourselves such questions as ?For what am I most grateful?? or ?What gives me the greatest joy in life?? can we maintain a proper work/life balance. Some have even suggested that emergency medical doctors need to formulate some kind of ?mission statement? simply to convey in simple language what they feel is the purpose of their life. Such statements must of necessity be subject to change as our age, health and desires change over time.

What happens when these components of a healthy lifestyle are neglected? Burnout. Burnout has been defined as an erosion of engagement, emotion and team spirit with other members of the emergency department. Doctors who began their emergency medicine careers with enthusiasm, compassion and patience can gradually descend into anger, cynicism, bitterness and frustration. Instead of being attracted to their work, these doctors find themselves fearing or loathing it. Activities outside of work which were once enjoyable become increasingly less so.

But burnout among emergency room personnel is treatable ? if recognized for the mental health issue that it truly is. Emergency room administrators should be trained to recognize the symptoms and take steps to combat it. For example, they can work with emergency room physicians on arranging their schedule in such a way as to ensure a healthy work-life balance. Only by achieving this balance can ER physicians lead their own lives successfully while saving the lives of others.

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Source: http://1dakika1dunya.com/emergency-medicine-physicians-shouldnt-forget-their-own-health.html

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