Tag: burnout

Dx: Burnout

burnout
~ Brenda Varriano, Canada ~ Leave a comment

Author: Brenda Varriano

Guest Author: Jason M White

What is Burnout?

Most of us have experienced some component of Burnout in one shape or another. I know that I myself experienced burnout while preparing for my STEP 1 shelf exam. While I was able to hit my goal, I experienced immense fatigue and mental fogginess for weeks following. Fortunately, I recovered.

For those who are curious if they have experienced Burnout, the AAMC defines and measures it by three indicators: 1) emotional exhaustion associated with work-related stress, 2) feeling of detachment toward patients and 3) a low sense of personal accomplishment. Though I was not in my clinical rotations yet, my feeling of detachment resonated into my personal life and relationships.

Introducing Dr. Jason M White

Dr. Jason M White is an Emergency Medicine physician with over 30 years of clinical experience.  He has almost a decade of experience at the C-suite level as a Chief Medical Officer (CMO). His administrative responsibilities have included Medical Student and Graduate Medical Education, Quality, Physician Relations, Trauma and Emergency Services. His expertise includes Wellness, Patient Safety, Coaching, Leadership Development, and Patient Experience. He is a board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) and the Commission of Medical Management. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine at Central Michigan University and has over 40 years of experience teaching medical students and residents. It is with great pleasure that I introduce Dr. White to the iEM community to discuss his experience with Burnout.

Figure 2: Dr. Jason White

Q: What is your experience with Burnout?

The relationship between the specially of Emergency Medicine and Burnout goes back for almost half of the century.  When I was in residency 40 years ago, Burnout was already a major topic of discussion.  In fact, we used to joke that our residency program was so advanced that we graduated already “burned out” after just three years of training. 

In addition, you must remember that early in the history of the specialty many practitioners of Emergency Medicine were itinerant Physicians or Physicians from other specialties since there were few accredited Emergency Medicine residency training programs until the late 1970s.

Therefore, much of the longevity and Burnout data at the time was skewed by the presence of Physicians who were transitioning either into or out of their medical careers. I remember seeing data at that time that said that the average emergency physician only practiced for 7 years.

Nonetheless it put the topic of Burnout on the radar screens of the specialty very early on and I believe for this reason became part of the foundation of the curriculum of our specialty and much discussion.

I don’t believe that I personally experienced Burnout during my clinical career.  However, I saw many of my colleagues floundering in the specialty and experiencing Burnout.  In many ways the emergency Physicians are the canaries in the coal mine.  If our work environment is toxic and unhealthy, we may be among the first to demonstrate symptoms.  Much of the emphasis around Burnout has been focused on the individual practitioner which is appropriate.  However, it is an incomplete picture if we don’t also consider the practice environment as a significant component of the problem of Burnout.

Q: What are tactics to avoid Burnout?

I believe that there are several excellent tactics which have had success in helping practitioners to avoid Burnout.  The basics are all about self-care.  We all need to eat healthy, exercise and get an adequate amount of sleep.  However, the specialty of Emergency Medicine, by its very nature, is in direct opposition to those fundamental aspects of self-care.  The hectic, unpredictable pace of the emergency department makes it difficult to eat right or even at all sometimes.  The varied nature of shiftwork and swinging shifts is the enemy of developing good sleep patterns and regular exercise practices.

These foundational factors make it even more important that we understand the factors that contribute to Burnout, the symptoms of Burnout and the ways of preventing, avoiding, and healing from Burnout.

Q: What makes a good Wellness program?

There are as many definitions of Wellness programs as there are Wellness programs. One of the challenges of starting Wellness programs is not everybody has the same definition.  I can’t tell you how many times I would try to discuss developing Wellness programs with hospital administrators, and they would already have their own biases and oversimplifications of what successful programs work.

The conversations would quickly devolve into talks about having New Year’s resolution inspired weight-loss competitions and offering $25.00 gasoline gift cards as incentives.  Or they would quickly default into discussions about yoga classes and barriers to participation and cost. 

Unfortunately, much of the literature around the topic of Wellness has been done in industrial and manufacturing environments where employers may be self-insured and are interested in saving money on their Health Insurance costs by supporting stop-smoking programs or weight-loss programs.

So, the first step is to understand that Health Care providers need a different approach than the manufacturing community. In addition, much of the literature about Burnout in the healthcare environment is anecdotal.  This is what we did, and this is how it worked.  The bias is to report the elements and components of what are perceived as successful programs while never reporting failures.

In addition, the endpoints of success are highly subjective, challenging to reproduce, and often lack sustainability. For these reasons, we need both better design and better execution of the studies about Wellness and it must be focused on the Health Care community.

I believe that a good Wellness Program for Healthcare Providers should include the following elements at a minimum:

  1. Acknowledge that we are all at risk for Burnout.
  2. Educate ourselves about the symptoms of Burnout in ourselves and our colleagues. [see Stages of Burnout]
  3. Preform self-assessments on a regular basis (probably quarterly) to identify at risk areas in our personal lives. [see Gazelle, Wheel of Life]
  4. Educate ourselves on successful strategies to address our at-risk areas and tailor them to our unique situations. [see Being Well in Emergency Medicine: ACEP’s Guide to Investing in Yourself]
  5. Develop a written plan for how we are going to address our at-risk areas.
  6. As leaders, educators, and administrators, we must make the “coal mine” as healthy as possible and create an environment of support and emotional safety. We can also provide resources and advisors to assist practitioners in their self-assessments and creation of their personal Wellness plans.

Q: This last question is for fun. I know the quote below is from your medical school interview. Does it still hold true?

Yes! Absolutely still true! However, I might modify it slightly and change it to: “Because I love medicine, I want to help people, and I want my life’s work to have meaning.

Thank you, Dr. White, for taking to time to share your experiences and research on EM Burnout and physician Wellness. I learnt a lot, and I believe, we are acknowledging what will be a shift in how medicine is practiced over the next few years.

References and Further Reading

Cite this article as: Brenda Varriano, Canada, "Dx: Burnout," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, January 5, 2022, https://iem-student.org/2022/01/05/dx-burnout/, date accessed: December 5, 2023

Why Me? The Story of My Burnout – Part 3

Why Me? The Story of My Burnout - Part 3
~ Jule Santos, Brasil ~ 1 Comment

The story continues from link (Part 2).

I must take a deep breath. I must ask for help.

The Self-Knowledge Path

I could go away and work in another hospital. We have many good hospitals in Brazil. Some even employ emergency physicians who are local graduates. I really could. In truth, there would be no shame if I left the hospital. But I decided to give it one more try.

I just want to make clear that there is no single route back from burnout. It is a multifactorial treatment. You need emotional power. Some you may already have, or you can develop with a mental health specialist’s help. Some you will gather alone, or family and friends will help you to recover if you are lucky enough. Read, talk, discuss, and share with your community. You will never be alone because it is the system that is inflicting moral injury and burning you, and everybody, out.

Each person needs different means and tools to recover. We have to acknowledge that not everybody can afford all of them. Not everybody can pay for a therapist or even leave their work. I was one of the lucky ones. I could.

I promised myself and others that I would get better, and I wouldn’t give up. I felt obliged to improve the system that had harmed me. The system that made me afraid; afraid that I would fail.

It was not easy! It wasn’t “just not thinking about it.” It wasn’t “just a phase.” It wasn’t “just yoga.” It wasn’t “just wanting.” It was more than all the above. It took a long journey of self-knowledge: Who was I? What did I want? How could I achieve that?

Gradually, intertwined with relapses,​ the healing process began. I returned to therapy. Thanks to all support from my amazing friends, -virtual friends, present friends, distant friends- mentors, mentees, students, residents, followers, I was overwhelmed with affection and understanding. There were messages of encouragement everywhere I looked and listened. I did not plan this. It happened organically from across our community, and sometimes unintentionally, as I reached out to others, who always found time to help me.

Kindness can save a life! If you feel so, just go around saying how important people are in your life. I assure you that the kindness and positive comments of these people saved me.

I improved gradually in small steps. With empathy and determination, I took one step after another. Each step led me to find new perspectives. With each small victory​, I felt a small but important​ celebration in my heart​. ​

Yet, I wanted to make sense of it all. How to endure the moral injury? How to continue working here? I desperately needed to make sense of my job.

Why Me?

jule santos

In addition to therapy, I went on leave. I flew away and spent time in Mozambique, an LMIC, with many more difficulties, compared to Brazil. They were just beginning to develop the first emergency medicine residency program, and they had a lot more work to do. They were seemingly starting from scratch, and they had fewer resources than we had in Brazil. I found their enthusiasm and resourcefulness more inspiring than I thought possible.

It wasn’t because I could see how lucky we are in Brazil, but they did their best even though they were aware of their problems. I knew that there was no way that I could give up after seeing them.

I returned to Brazil, where people were eager to work with me. I felt they had missed me. They showed me that I made a difference.

I was fortunate to see my work environment improved. The administration had started to ‘get it,’ and now they cared about what we do. They realized that efficient systems saved money, so they were helping us achieve better care for our patients. Our department was renovated. They hired more people, and we got better medications. It all helped. It felt as though they were listening.

So recovering from burnout not only helped me to accept that problems are a part of the system but also made me realize people make the system. Therefore we can change it to accommodate our needs. Not the contrary. We need to END moral injury by addressing it and demanding solutions! We don’t need to be resilient to it!

In the beginning, I understood that I needed to be ​present​ in all my tasks, but that’s a challenge in the hectic world of emergency medicine. In truth, we are not as good at multitasking as we let ourselves think. However, we get better at prioritizing and scheduling tasks as we develop as clinicians. More importantly, we learn to give each task the proper time and attention it deserves.

As time passed, my most challenging feelings diminished. I redefined my responsibilities and my choices, redefined my motivation, my ambition, my purpose. I adjusted my expectations. I found a new power.

Then, ​gradually​, the love for Emergency Medicine and the energy to become the doctor I aspire came back. However, I still had to face my demons and deal with the most painful side of emergency medicine: Delivering bad news.

“Most of the time, the fact that you care is enough”​ is one of the most effective pieces of advice that I ever received. It helped me relieve the intense pain that I didn’t even know it was there. I still remind others and myself of it regularly.

For example, I dealt with the tragic case of pediatric cardiac arrest, brought in by another medical team. We did CPR over an hour, as this was a very delicate situation with a child. At the debriefing, I was careful with both teams from the other hospital and our own. Although I was worried about having the conversation I did, I was shocked and stunned to hear the reply. The doctor shrugged and said:

– Yeah, right. Can I go now?

He was in a rush. He didn’t even want to hear the debriefing. He didn’t appear to care! The disdain broke my spirit, and the whole team felt the same anger. It made everything harder to cope.

I took a deep breath, thanked the team for all the effort, asked them to prepare the body, and went to the waiting room to talk once again with the father. I had been there a lot of times, talking through everything as we were trying to resuscitate, so he already knew me, and immediately recognized my expression of bad news. I sat next to him and told him everything we did. I was trying to remedy the anguish while allowing time for understanding.

– There was nothing more we could do. I’m so sorry, but he died.

The father stared at the floor for a while.

– My wife is eight months pregnant. What should I do now?

He was in despair. Next came tears. I waited. Present. Then, he looked at me with honest:

– Thank you, doctor, for everything you did.

I will never forget them.

“Most of the time, the fact that you care is enough.”

I can’t stop people from getting sick. I can’t even guarantee who will survive, much less, meet the expectations of families. I can’t fix all the system by myself. Yet, I can show that we care, which is now my purpose and mantra.

Now, when I have to deliver bad news, I try my best to be there and look in the eyes. I patiently wait to make sure until there is no doubt. I don’t try to hide my feelings, ​and I finally feel I’m always telling the truth:

– We are doing everything we can.

I ensure that they know​ we care.​ I make a difference there. My pain eases as theirs alleviates even a little.

“Most of the time, the fact that you care is enough.”

I can’t stop people from getting sick. I can’t even guarantee who will survive, much less, meet the expectations of families. I can’t fix all the system by myself. Yet, I can show that we care, which is now my purpose and mantra.

Finding My Ikigai

ikigai

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being.” In English, the word roughly means “thing that you live for” or “the reason for which you wake up in the morning.” Each individual’s ikigai is personal and specific to their lives, ​values​ , and ​beliefs​. It reflects the ​inner self​ and faithfully expresses that, while simultaneously creating a mental state​ in which the individual feels at ease.

The thing I like most about ikigai is that it is for everyone. You have to understand yourself to achieve this deeply. Seeking self-knowledge can be the most challenging part.

– Am I doing something that I love?
– Am I doing something that the world needs?
– Am I doing something that I am good at?
– Am I doing something that I can be paid for?

YES!

So, where am I now?

Well, I still love heart attacks! I love the look of amazement of the interns when we save a life. I love the self-satisfaction of the residents when they can do something correctly for the first time. I love how happy the team gets when we can do perfect resuscitation. I love the peculiarities of each patient, their life, culture, and beliefs. I love to learn something new every day. ​And that’s why Emergency Medicine!

I love heart attacks! But when we can't save, when the system fails, when the patient dies but I feel that I softened the pain, even a little bit, by showing that we care, I know I can endure.

And that's why, me.

Why Me? The Story of My Burnout - Part 1
Why Me? The Story of My Burnout - Part 2
Cite this article as: Jule Santos, Brasil, "Why Me? The Story of My Burnout – Part 3," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, January 6, 2020, https://iem-student.org/2020/01/06/emergency-medicine-why-me-the-story-of-my-burnout-part-3/, date accessed: December 5, 2023

Why Me? The Story of My Burnout – Part 2

Why Me? The Story of My Burnout - Part 2
~ Jule Santos, Brasil ~ Leave a comment

The story continues from link (Part 1)

I had already been tired and sad. Now, I was also feeling wronged.

The Dangers of Burnout

It meant that heart attacks stopped being exciting. I started to resent them as they now caused me to suffer. I have nowhere else to refer the patient, or the specialty doctors criticized me. 

They mistreated me, perhaps because of a lack of trust, or they too were damaged by the system. Maybe it was about payments and expenses. I did not know, but the effort of constant fighting was exhausting.

The system hit me hard. It was clear: irritation, stress, discontent, three quarrels with my team and my superiors in one week. I was burned out. That was putting my good work at risk.

Sad person

I felt like everything I was doing was meaningless. I aspired to become the best possible doctor through studying, traveling and sharing, but I always returned to the conditions that made me feel that all was in vain. My stagnant environment was full of burnout people, unjust deaths and endless problems regarding insufficient resources versus higher and higher demand.

That saddest thing in medicine is a doctor without hope.

I felt that each patient brought more pain than joy, even when we had excellent outcomes. It made me sick. I felt like I had unlearned hope. To make matters worse, I could not contain these emotions.

One day a patient asked me, “Am I going to die, doctor?”

I had just seen the results. It suggested cancer, but what would happen now? We wanted an expert to lead him, necessitating an evaluation by the oncologist. Still, the oncologist would not see the patient until the biopsy result, despite the imaging strongly suggested cancer. That meant we had to ask the general surgeon to do the biopsy, but in return, he asked us to refer the patient to another surgical specialty, based on the location of the tumor. So we tried, but this type of specialist did not serve in our region.

The patient’s and our growing stress and conflict eventually led the general surgeon to do the biopsy, but the patient had to wait 30 to 45 more days for the result. Only then, he would be able to go back to the oncologist. When he did, tho oncologist asked us for phenotyping. One more week passed until we finally get the patient to oncology, only to be declared too sick for treatment.

I had experienced this so many times before. Meanwhile, patients were getting more sick, and repeatedly ended up in the emergency department, sometimes got admitted, only to treat infections or pain. In the end, they were sent by the internist to die in our emergency room. They could not do end-of-life care properly. I frequently talked to an enraged family, not because of cancer, but because they were led to believe there was a chance of treatment.

My opinion is that the problem wasn’t lying to the patient about cure cancer, but how often the system don’t even give them this chance of a fight, lying about a chance to treat, but in really being just harmful for everybody because disorganization, corruption, and for didn’t care.

We do not cure death. Ever.

Sometimes we can prolong life. We hope for a good life with meaning, so that they can enjoy some more years, months, weeks or days of celebration, and prepare their wishes for a decent death with their family.

My opinion is that this realization is important not only when we talk about cancer, but any condition, even like a heart attack. We do not cure death, ever.

Coming back to that new patient, the words and the questions bounced in my head:

– Am I going to die, doctor?
– Don’t think about it now. We will take care of you.

I don’t know what the patient saw in me. To me, It felt like lying. When I said we would do our best, it wasn’t me but the system lying. Even if we as emergency physicians or I as an individual did everything possible, I felt the system didn’t care. I knew the system could do better. What could I say when I knew that the journey I want for my patients is so unachievable in the system I work in. I no longer knew what to say under these circumstances, and I felt the patient recognized that in my soul.

I felt hurt, guilty, beaten, and bitter.

That saddest thing in medicine is a doctor without hope.

I never thought this could happen to me. Not with me! How could this happen to me? I was in love with Emergency Medicine! Wasn’t I?

I’d said a billion times how I loved Emergency Medicine and didn’t know how to live without it. I’d shared my passion, convincing others that Emergency Medicine was the answer. Now, it felt like Emergency Medicine was killing me. And worst, I felt that I was not doing good for my patients as my lies were hurting them.

I must take a deep breath. I must ask for help. ...to be continued...

Why Me? The Story of My Burnout - Part 1
Why Me? The Story of My Burnout - Part 3
Cite this article as: Jule Santos, Brasil, "Why Me? The Story of My Burnout – Part 2," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, January 3, 2020, https://iem-student.org/2020/01/03/why-me-the-story-of-my-burnout-part-2/, date accessed: December 5, 2023

Why Me? The Story of My Burnout – Part 1

why me - the story of my burnout
~ Jule Santos, Brasil ~ Leave a comment

This story starts like almost every other: I fell in love.

The thing is, I LOVE heart attacks!

I know this is a weird statement, maybe even a little ​overstated. I know that people can get uncomfortable when I say this. When I said it for the first time, full of enthusiasm and with sparkling eyes, my ex-fiance looked at me in a concerned and puzzled way: ‘Can you say that?​’ – He asked, wondering if it was appropriate for a doctor to say that they actually enjoyed the experience of people being so unwell.

Clearly, as a doctor, I have nothing against people. Quite the contrary, I unceasingly fight for them to survive and thrive. Yet the paradox is real, despite my battle to save my patients, I am so in love with heart attacks!

Why? Perhaps I love the puzzle behind it. When the patient arrives, I see the position of the body, the hand on the chest, fingers tightly pressed against the skin, the skin color, the sweating… I consider the nuances of pain types, the comorbidities, the risk factors… All are informing my judgment and decisions even before I get to look at the ECG.

I love knowing the diagnosis as it reveals itself. I love that I can treat it. And when it works, I’m the queen of my craft. The scores of survival game change. 1 for me, 1 for my patient, and 0 for the heart attack!

So that’s why you would see me so happy when a patient arrives in my ED. I love this feeling. I love this adrenaline rush that is emergency medicine and me! I love leading a code, guiding actions, organizing my team to the point of ROSC. I love that roaring energy that runs through the whole team as we effortlessly move to the next stage of resuscitation.

This is why I love Emergency Medicine.

Emergency Medicine is new In Brazil. The general assumption is that ED is where junior physicians serve until they choose another specialty or other specialists work to earn additional income. Until recently, working in the ED was a difficult job with no career advancement. So, when I realized that I was so in love with more than heart attacks that I could not leave my work as an Emergency Physician, people started to ask me, “Are you sure? Do you want to work forever in an ED in Brazil? What about when you get older? Don’t you think you will get tired and burned out?”

jule santos

I don’t think so. I reply, “I love my job. When you love your job, you don’t ever get tired.”

How naive I was.

Emergency medicine is tough, sometimes even painful. Deaths, we can’t help. Diagnoses of incurable diseases. Bad news. The pressure to be good, perfect, productive. Adding to that, many of us work in corrosive health systems: The result? Emergency Medicine can burn you to your core.

Being in love​ with Emergency Medicine is enough to protect us?

Emergency Medicine can burn you to your core.

Leaving the Comfort Zone

I am a curious soul. While I learned more about emergency medicine, I discovered another world with worldwide Emergency Physicians, who could understand my difficulties and help me learn remotely from them. I fell in love again with #FOAMed.

Hearing the experiences of my colleagues from all around the world inspired me to travel and meet those people. I wanted to learn with them and to compare how Emergency Medicine is in those places.

I love #FOAMED

My newly found calling took me to Sydney in Australia, such a lovely country, which had beautiful and polite people, good public transportation, beautiful scenery, and even a public healthcare system too!

I was lucky enough to spend time in an excellent hospital in NSW. I witnessed them receiving a trauma patient and listened to them as they plan patient management. I was speechless. I felt a sudden sadness to the degree that I wanted to crawl back to my mother’s womb.

When I tell this story, people often react, “You don’t need fancy stuff to practice Emergency Medicine,” but it was not what I saw there. What was it? It wasn’t the video laryngoscopy. It wasn’t the infinite bougies and disposable LMAs. That’s true: The facilities in Australia were incredible and so much more were available than back home in Brazil. But it was still the people.

When the paramedic team arrived, the whole team discussed the patient plan. They were so courteous and respectful to each other, focused only on doing the best for the patient. They were excited about the case, energized, and happy for doing their best.

I’m not saying their life is easy. I’m not saying they don’t suffer moral injury. But I’m sure they don’t show ill-will to their peers and most importantly, to their patients. I want so badly to be able to do that kind of medicine, but the realization of this new health system made me feel envious and perhaps even hopeless. Their experience was so positively different from mine.

Teamwork

I spent the next day in my room, lying depressed in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what to do now: “How I would love to have that experience in my hospital!”

I thought a lot about what happened there. Why did it hit me so hard? I knew that not all hospitals were the same in Australia as some hospitals had problems and struggles like in Brazil. I already knew that we had hospitals in Brazil better than mine. Why did I feel so hopeless then?

Now, looking back, I can understand better. I was pushing my comfort zone further than I ever did in my entire life. I was discovering a lot about myself and my capabilities. I was achieving success through FOAM. And so, I saw my limitations, I strumbled in a deep Impostor Syndrome and lost some excellent opportunities. I was in such a fragile mindstate that I felt like the system was unfair to me.

Sad Clown

In my hospital, which is always overcrowded, I work with physicians that don’t have the mindset of Emergency Medicine. When a trauma patient arrives, it feels like a battle. Physicians challenge paramedics: ​“Why did you bring this patient here when we don’t have bed enough?”​ or​ ​“​we don’t have enough surgeons!” or “why does nothing here work?”

All too frequently, the team ends up shouting at each other.

I tried hard to spread the ideas and visions I was learning. One time, I asked for an ultrasound machine, my boss laughed in my face: “Where do you think you are?” Everybody seemed so consumed by pessimism and fatigue that they lost all hope.

I had already been tired and sad. Now, I was also feeling wronged. ...to be continued...

Why Me? The Story of My Burnout - Part 2
Why Me? The Story of My Burnout - Part 3
Cite this article as: Jule Santos, Brasil, "Why Me? The Story of My Burnout – Part 1," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, December 30, 2019, https://iem-student.org/2019/12/30/why-me-the-story-of-my-burnout-part-1/, date accessed: December 5, 2023

Five Tips About Well-being During and After Medical School

~ Elif Dilek Cakal, Turkey ~ Leave a comment

Even the best of us suffer from burnout from time to time. It is utterly human as training in medicine is very demanding itself and combined with the life issues it can be weary. Well, we can control the chaos. Here are five tips for creating a system to support long term-term success and a happy life.

1

Adopt a healthy lifestyle and be persistent: Back to basics: Embrace a sustainable, healthy diet; drink approximately eight glass of water; sleep at least eight hours a day and exercise regularly. You need to take care of your body: A healthy diet and adequate water enhance stamina; regular and enough sleep promotes learning, memory, stress relief and performance; exercising helps you to relieve stress and increases endurance. Sacrificing any of these for studying more does not miraculously help you reach success. Building a career is a long path: You have to stay strong.

For more on this topic: National Health Service, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker 

2

Regulate your time wisely: Have you ever met an astonishingly successful professional who seems to be participating in every social activity? Do not fret! Learning how to manage your time will get you there. Let me share a few tricks with you: Decide your priorities and learn to say “no” to the rest. Spending ten minutes to planning your day will sometimes save you a few hours – hours that you may spend on your hobbies or with your family or friends. Conquer procrastination and do it now! Create a study area and be minimalist about it. Get rid of your phone (and your social media accounts!) while studying. If you feel you lose your focus, it is probably time for a break. A bullet journal is an excellent way to plan your day, month and future.

For more on this topic: Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy, Bullet Journal, Work Life Balance

3

Regulate your Energy Wisely: Managing your time is essential but not enough. If you have ever struggled not to sleep in the second half of a 2-hour lecture, then you are not alone. Energy management, a newer concept than time management, is about to change our beliefs related to performance and happiness. Here are a few basics: According to Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, you must be physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused and spiritually aligned for long-term performance, health and happiness. Overuse and underuse will hinder your energy, you need to balance your energy expenditure by intentional challenges and resting in between. Studying continuously will damage your performance in the long term.

For more on this topic: The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz

4

Recognize and change your values: Identify your priorities. If you are prioritizing medicine over your health and happiness, you are in the wrong. You and your well-being are your top priorities. Your job or your academic performance does not define you, you are more than that. Determine your personal and professional long-term goals, then create a road map. Check and update your goals regularly. Do not let the first bump on the road demotivate you; if you stay persistent, you will reach your goals sooner or later.

For more on this topic: How To Make Work-Life Balance Work by Nigel Marsh

5

Spend quality time with your family and friends: If you think that you can accomplish all by yourself, think again. Spending quality time with your friend and family has numerous personal and professional benefits: It helps you to relieve stress, create an early network and a supportive net, diversify your area of interests, rest your mind by distracting it away from medicine. Always remember: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

For more on this topic: Why It’s Important to Spend More Time with Friends and Family, 4 Reasons Friends And Family Are Good For Your Health