Articles, Audio, and Videos for Your Inspiration and Learning
First Step in Building Work-Life Balance
A few weeks back I was interviewed on the topic of work-life balance for physicians. Here is the 4th question I was asked and my response. Can you comment on how the first step in building work-life balance is defining work-life balance for oneself and one's life...
Definition of Work-Life Balance
A few weeks back I was interviewed on the topic of work-life balance for physicians. Here is the 3rd question I was asked and my response. How do you define work-life balance? I must admit, I personally don’t like the term work-life balance since it not only...
Physician Happiness and Satisfaction Study
Physician Happiness Study and what you can do with it Last week the 2015 Great American Physician Survey, sponsored by Kareo, revealed a new statistic on physician happiness. In this study, they interviewed 1001 physicians where the majority was male (58.7%) and...
How You Can Stop Annoyance or Frustrations Quickly
Are you feeling frustrated or annoyed more frequently? Feeling frustration or annoyance frequently can be a major energy drainer in your life. It sucks everything out of you and many times it is hard to recover from this setback. Here is a neuroscientific trick that...
Two Concrete Principles That Ensure Your Success and Work-Life Balance
In general, physicians who explore my programs want more fulfillment, less stress, better performance – either as a doctor, as a leader, or as a parent / spouse. One of my mantras for all my programs is to keep everything rather simple. I learned the more complicated...
Work-Life Balance Strategies For Physicians
Can you comment on some of the strategies I’ve seen mentioned such as: – Compromise – Set reasonable expectations – Hire help at home with chores (lawn cutting), and find tasks at work you can delegate. (“If it doesn’t require your MD degree, consider delegating or...
How Do You Handle Complaints?
On Tuesday, while I was waiting for a client in a hospital cafeteria, I overheard a conversation between two physicians who were talking about their frustration with their office manager. Sitting close by I couldn’t help but notice how much time, strong feelings, and...
Do What Matters To You – Life Doesn’t Wait
For the longest time, I had "legit" reasons and time-related excuses to skip working out. To put a stop on that I signed up for a Tough Mudder event, which is a 10.3 mile run with 21 different muddy, mental, and strength related challenges. Committing to the event and...
Compassionate Care
Four Tips To Give Constructive Feedback To Your Staff
Are you dissatisfied with the performance of some of your supportive staff members? Now you may think that physicians who work in their private practice have it rather easy. They tell the personnel how to do it next time and if the person won’t do it or can’t do it,...
Long-term Stress Destroys Physicians
Just a couple of days ago I had an interesting conversation with a physician who is so stressed out right now that she became very emotional as soon as I asked her some clarifying questions. As a physician you have been trained to work through stress and accept stress...
If You Tolerate It, It Burns You Out
When you first practiced medicine did you feel stress during your first major procedure or an emergency situation where the life of a patient depended on you? I am sure you did, most people experience stress when they do something new the very first time or when...
Prevent Physician Burnout – Plan Time Off for the Year!
Studies and experience have proven that taking time off reduces stress and burnout. It amazes me that the United States is one of only 13 countries in the entire world that does not mandate vacation time. The Medscape 2015 Physician Lifestyle Report revealed that more...
Prevent Physician Burnout & Medscape 2015 Study
Medscape published their 2015 Physician Lifestyle Report. If you haven’t seen it yet, here are the numbers: 46% of physicians reported that they are feeling burned out. Burnout is defined as loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of...
How to say “no” without feeling guilty
Your schedule is already full. Your kids complain that you don’t spend enough time. You are sleep deprived, and you feel like life is out of control. Rings a bell? Additionally, a hospital administrator asks you whether you’d be willing to write an article for the...
The Mindset of Future Physicians
The Ninth Future Physicians of America survey report that included the opinions of 1,462 medical students from August / September of 2014 announced the following results: Almost three quarters of medical students desire to work in a larger health system or...
Bedside Manner and Board Certification: Survey Discloses Top Qualities for Consumers Choosing a Doctor
According to a telephone survey conducted by the American Board of Medical Specialties between May 16-19, 2008, nine out of 10 Americans ranked communication skills and board certification highest in important qualities they look for in choosing a doctor. Ninety-five...
What Is A Balanced Physician
When I started the balanced physician program in 2004, I did it with the goal in mind to help physicians have more work life balance. At that time I offered the program to the market place but it wasn't ready for it except the physicians who felt burned out and had...
Lessons Of Balance During Travels
This has been an interesting and different week for me. On Tuesday I returned from a five day long trip to Kuwait City and Germany. I was invited to speak about coaching in healthcare to physicians and healthcare leaders in Kuwait at the 3rd Annual Coaching...
Online Exclusive: Is Part-Time Hospitalist Work Right For You?
Here is another article in "The Hospitalist" online magazine where my opinion about part-time work was published. You can read the entire article on their webpage at ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Is Part-Time Hospitalist Work Right for You? Article – The Hospitalist. (When you...
Work-Life Balance For Hospitalists A People Issue, Not A Women’s Issue
Last month I was interviewed about my perspective on work-life balance for hospitalists. You can find the complete article by Lisa Ryan here. (When you click on the link, a new window will open and you will be taken to the Hospitalist Magazine website.) In today’s era...
Five Tips To Maintain A Healthy Attitude
As a physician, your attitude influences all segments of your professional world: your staff’s fellowship, collaboration and performance; the follow-through of your patients; and the amount of your goals that will be accomplished. It also influences personal...
Practice Managers as Coaches: Boost your Effectiveness and Personal Fulfillment
A nurse is coming to the office consistently late. Patients always leave positive remarks about the politeness and friendly demeanor of your receptionist. Your medical billing assistant struggles being assertive with the insurance company representatives. How do you,...
Take The Fear Out Of Malpractice Lawsuits
Being an excellent clinician is no guarantee against malpractice claims. An article in the American Medical News last month reported that even though most physicians will be sued at least once during their career, the majority of cases are without merit. According to...
Self Care At Practice
Recently I had a conversation with a primary care physician who started her private practice a couple of years ago. She was telling me about the long nights in the office, the worries about financial responsibilities, and the challenges she experienced with a couple...
Make Time For Fun Events
Last Sunday, my husband asked me whether I would join him training our dogs. We have two German shepherds and one Rottweiler. When we go out and train our dogs, we meet with other dog trainers at a dog club about 40 miles away from our house, and so typically we spend...
Schedule Play Time In Your Life
Life is not about working every single minute. What a shame if you never have a single moment to enjoy what matters most to you. Yet, so many physicians work endless hours in their practice to keep up with their work and to get more tasks completed – long after...
What Are Your Hiring Criteria?
Physicians and practice managers always want to hire the best. However, the most experienced and skilled applicant is not necessarily the most qualified. As professionals, we bring character and experience to the workplace and character is more important than...
Running Out Of Energy Instead Of Time
Yesterday was one of those days when I had a lot of plans for the evening. While planning my day in the morning, I decided that after work I would wash clothes, vacuum the house, and get our guest bedroom ready before our friends arrive tomorrow. I estimated that the...
Work-Life Balance Starts With You
I set the term “physician work-life balance” in Google alerts. Many alerts include job opening announcements, where work-life balance is used as one of the perks for the new position. Recently I read, “We are offering you a tremendous work-life balance both...