Paths to Wellness in Medical Practice. Physicians who experience an adverse event or litigation may find a wealth of evidence-based information in a new book, “Physician Mental Health and Well-Being: Research and Practice” edited by psychiatrists Kirk Brower and Michelle Riba. Although there is little direct reference to litigation itself, this book’s 31 chapters provide… Read More »Physician Mental Health and Well Being
As the public and research interest in physician burnout increases as well as the proportion of US physicians affected, it is well to remind ourselves of the important work of Balch et al on the relationship between burnout and malpractice litigation. Six years ago, his group published the results of a survey of 7,197 members… Read More »Burnout and Malpractice Litigation
A patient under our care dies unexpectedly. Another of our patients develops a rare and life-threatening allergic reaction. Another patient commits suicide three months after we last saw them. All are traumatic and tragic events. If we are in any way sensitive to the relationship we have with our patients, such events have a deep… Read More »How We Can Help Ourselves After a Bad Event
Like combat-hardened military veterans, physicians don’t often talk about the ones they lost. When they do, listening to them provides an illuminating window on what it means to be a doctor. Scott Eggener, an Associate Professor of Surgery and Co-Director of the Prostate Cancer Program at the University of Chicago, bravely discusses his own experience… Read More »Learning to Listen to Our Grief When the Worst Happens