I have no financial disclosures or conflicts of interest
2018 Most Over-used and Misused Words
Wheelhouse
“Wrap my head around”
Optics
Yeet
Collusion
2018 Most Over-used and Misused Words
Wheelhouse
“Wrap my head around”
Optics
Yeet
Collusion
Burn Out
Burn-out
Burnout
• 40% of physicians admit to Burnout symptoms
• 25 to 30% of U.S. citizens describe Burnout symptoms
• Most common explanations are system related:• Emphasis on productivity
• Loss of autonomy
• Spending < 20% time doing “meaningful” work
• Documentation, EMR
• Another manifestation of our mental anguish?
Signs of Mental Distress in U.S. Society
• Adults - 18% suffer from mental illness• Suicidal ideation 4.04% (up from 3.77%)
• Children – 12.6% suffer from Major Depressive Episodes
• Civility declining and Anger increasing
• Physicians:• 40% screen positive for depressive symptoms
• 400 commit suicide each year
Optimizing Joy in Medicine
“Joy is much deeper than happiness.
While happiness is seen as dependent
on external circumstances, joy is not”
-Desmond Tutu
Bongo Board
Success Happiness
Success Happiness
Lyubomirsky et al. Psychological Bulletin 2005 Meta analysis
“Now that is a TOB” *
* Thing of Beauty
“Top 10 Reasons Why General Surgery is a Great Career”
Rick Thirlby, Western Surgical Association 2006
Archives of Surgery 2007
Thirlby’s Reasons for Gratitude
• Training is fun, and it never ends
• You have job security
• The pay is not bad
• Your mother will be proud of you
• There’s spirituality if you want it
• You will change patients’ lives
• Patients will change your life
“Happiness is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how
good things really are.”
-Marianne Williamson
Resuscitating the Canary
The Coal Mine or the Canary?
Mindfulness and Surgery
Feasibility of Formal Mindfulness-Based Stress-Resilience Training Among Surgery Interns: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Lebares CC et al. JAMA Surgery, Oct. 2018
• Feasible
• Perceived as valuable
• !2 month follow-up showed persistence
Happiness vs. Joy
Happiness happens to us. Feeling happiness is not entirely a choice that we make. Happiness is fickle.
Joy is an attitude of heart and spirit, present deep inside us. Joy can share its space with other emotions –sadness, shame, or anger. Happiness cannot.
Compassion International
Joy
•Our essential nature of women and men
•Our goal – return to the state of joy
•Everyone can realize through cultivating skills
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
“Happiness is not what makes us grateful, it is gratefulness that makes us happy”
– David Steindl-Rast
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
• Humor
Humor
Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
• Humor
• Intention
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
• Humor
• Intention
• Leadership
Joy Through LeadershipIf you’re not the lead dog…
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
• Humor
• Intention
• Leadership
• Teaching
Chicken or Egg?I ordered a chicken and an egg on
Amazon today.
I’ll let you know
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
• Humor
• Intention
• Leadership
• Teaching
• Compassion
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
• Humor
• Intention
• Leadership
• Teaching
• Compassion “A Surgeon’s Reflections on Love”
Am. J. Surgery 2015
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
• Humor
• Intention
• Leadership
• Teaching
• Compassion
• Community
Tools for Medical Happiness & Joy
• Gratitude
• Humor
• Intention
• Leadership
• Teaching
• Compassion
• Community
• Coaching
Finding Joy - Summary
•Acknowledge our gratitude
•Positively re-frame our perspective
•Harness our capacity for compassion
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