Connection: The Antidote to Physician Burnout and Attrition | Cecilia Cruz | TEDxSUNYUpstate

In this talk, Dr. Cruz explores the antidote to physician burnout and attrition. Dr. Cecilia Cruz has an MPH in International Health, and is a board certified Emergency Medicine physician with over twenty years of experience. In 2018 Dr. Cruz was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Although that was a very challenging time, it created a pause in the demands and expectations of day-to-day life allowing Dr. Cruz the opportunity to deeply contemplate her life, her values, and her purpose. By the time her treatment was over, she knew that she could not go back to living the way she previously had. She wanted to maintain the clarity she had managed to achieve, but did not really know how. She searched for ways to do so, and discovered the power of positive intelligence and mental fitness. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@dancelzard]

We need to push back against the Administrative/ Insurance Machine that has created progressive external metric pressures that prevent us from taking excellent care of our patients and ourselves. I am happy that I am nearing the end of my Emergency Medicine career after 37 years and can chose the best part-time use of my attention and expertise for whatever patient-centered energy I have left. I worry about the emerging youngsters starting in the study and practice of Medicine, how they will maintain their enthusiasm and pursue their dreams as the playing field continues to shift in disappointing and uncontrolled directions, while maintaining their interpersonal and family connections.

[@Authenticmedicine]

This is a great lecture. Every doc should watch. We need to be a physician community again.

[@user-em3vt9ww5c]

I thought that her talk was very moving and gave solutions and awareness to the big problem of burnout amongst physicians. She is right, in that in medical, they don’t advocate for the “we” or the community aspect. I feel we have been pushed to be our best selves with highs stakes at risk, pushed to be the best, and pushed to do well in school. We were never pushed to collaborate, to connect, to talk to our peers, to gain insight, to share compassion. This was the troubling part of medical school for me, the competitiveness and individuality. It created a toxic environment, a place with no community, which furher leads to burnout, attrition, and lack of connectivity. I agree with Dr. Cruz that the key is to be connected and work on our mental fitness. If we advocated in medical schools to have more collaboration, to work together and bring eachother up through obstacles, and to work more like a team, I think that there may be some great changes! It is just crazy to me that the topic of burnout is still so prevalent, for years,a nd still has not improved or been fixed. How are we supposed to “do no harm” which is the ethical principle of nonmalificence, if we do not take care of ourselves? How do we ensure that we are not hurting patients when we are hurting ourselves? It is a viscious cycle and people nee to think first of themselves before others, or else it is going to be constant mistakes that could be life endangering. I like her solutions, but my question is why aren’t more schools and programs lamentinging it?

[@claudiacoker3462]

Community and connectedness is much needed!

[@brainfreshtoday]

Thank you for sharing your story, the importance of connection needs to be stressed at all levels of professional development!