As a locum tenens recruiter, the number one reason why there has been such a boom in interest of locum tenens work is that people are getting tired of working 60-80 hours for weeks, months and years on end.

Burnout is defined as: A syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job and reduced professional efficacy.

Physician burnout dramatically increased after COVID, reaching above 50% overall for physicians as a whole and much higher in certain higher stress specialties.

Symptoms of Physician Burnout

1. Emotional exhaustion, mental and physical fatigue

2. Cynicism (loss of altruism)

3. Lack of engagement, feeling a lack of contribution or purpose

4. Depression/Addictions/Suicidal Thoughts

Burnout leads to:

1. Poor quality of work and increased medical errors

2. Patient safety issues

3. Poor patient satisfaction

4. Lack of provider engagement

5. Poor retention rate and early retirement, or leaving the profession to do something else.

Strategies I discussed on this episode:

• Start crafting out a plan of action of what you can do to change your current situation for the better (start by brain storming).

• Meditation or doing something meditative like walking in nature, painting or art, gardening (allows your brain to process information more efficiently), mindfulness allows you to recognize you are not your thoughts, but you have thoughts.
• Group support, being more vocal with leaders and colleagues instead of keeping it bottled up.
• Let go of expectations that you think other people have of you, set boundaries, say 'no' more often.
• Carve out time for what you love and who you love.
• Sleep, nutrition, exercise, sunlight
• Let go of 'no value' activities and things that don't make you feel good (news, financial and political news, social media, trim your emails and subscriptions), outsource for help with tasks that are not in your zone of genius, for me I have a Virtual Admin, an associate, hire people to do my landscaping and cleaning.
• Declare your day done when you are done, create an 'off switch' or ritual to declare you are done with work and create a system or plan for eliminating work communication when you aren't supposed to be at work.
• Rocks, Pebbles, Sand - Define what is most important to least important in life and prioritize those things. For me my rocks are my family, my health, my sleep and doing what I love. My pebbles (still are important) are my work and business ventures. Least important are things like TV, entertainment, water cooler talk, social media. When I sort my rocks first, I still have time for my pebbles and sand.

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• If you would like to set up a 30 minute strategy call (for general, vascular or trauma surgeons) or if you would like me to refer you to a reputable recruiter you can email me at simon.parsons@comphealth.com
• Grab the Ultimate Locum Tenens Playbook here: https://simonparsons.ck.page/locums