Physician Burnout: Regain Your Love for Medicine with Locum Tenens
There is a key difference between stress and physician burnout – you can recover from stress during your time off, whereas with physician burnout you cannot. Every industry is subject to employee stress, but the problem with physician burnout is that it can be extremely deep rooted, difficult to manage, and have a serious effect on your work, which can put patients at risk. Additionally, doctors are 15% more likely to experience burnout than any other professional in any other industry. Before diving into locum tenens jobs as a potential solution, take a look at the causes of physician burnout and how a locum tenens position may offer a solution.
Signs that you have physician burnout and could benefit from locum tenens jobs:
- You begin to feel resentment towards patients and you find it difficult to hold back a cynical attitude when you interact with them.
- You are exhausted and worn out by work, so much that you are unable to feel refreshed during non-working hours
- You have a defeatist attitude towards your work in general and feel meaningless.
Where does physician burnout come from? How can a locum tenens position help?
Physicians have jobs that consistently entail high stress situations; physicians have less flexibility of schedule and their sleep patterns and eating habits are affected by the work itself.
This is why some turn to locum tenens jobs as a means of coping with physician burnout. There is hope and doctors can regain their love for medicine after physician burnout.
Locum tenens jobs as a means of recovery:
Sometimes, physicians need enough time off to gain perspective and perhaps seek out counselling. The issue is that taking too much time away from work creates financial burdens, and for some, it is counter intuitive to distance yourself from something that you want to regain love for.
Locum tenens jobs offer a solution to all of the above issues. Scale back your work in medicine while not committing to anything permanent. You can travel, have a flexible schedule, and gain back perspective, all while continuing to practice medicine.
Culling, coping, and curing physician burnout:
- You can cope with physician burnout by finding a stress relief source or hobby. For some physicians, it is marathons and working out; whatever you decide, make time for it.
- Talk to a therapist and/or setup a support system. This could be a mentor, colleague or family member. Don’t keep the people in your life in the dark about your physician burnout because you think they won’t be able to understand your feelings.
- Take a break. The issue with taking time off is that the very definition of physician burnout stems from the fact that you cannot recover during your time off. Try cutting back on your hours in general and try a locum tenens position to give you more freedom.
If you find yourself having major difficulties coping, speak to your hospital manager as soon as possible and discuss the issues you are having. If you think locum tenens may be helpful, contact the locum tenens staffing professionals at Mint Physician Staffing.
In October of 2008, Stuart acquired the assets of Prime Staff—a Houston-based locum tenens company with a successful 12-year track record of placing physicians throughout the southeastern United States. After an overhaul of the business and re-branding to Mint Physician Staffing, the company has since quadrupled in size in terms of both employee count and revenue. As President, Stuart manages the company on a daily basis. He is purely a private individual investor and is not affiliated with any other company or private equity investor.
- Building Careers and Saving Lives at its Finest - March 10, 2021
- Locum Tenens Psychiatrist - January 26, 2021
- Increase in Mental Health Issues During COVID-19 Pandemic - October 19, 2020