Is clinical medicine sustainable ?

This is something I hear Physician's question every day.

I understand this question fully. I was that doctor who loved the patients BUT HATED the job. I wanted to leave Medicine due to the charting, paperwork, patient entitlement and administration expectations. It looked like 15 years in clinical practice and still unable to tell my family what time I could be expected to be home. Heading home at 6pm, hours after the last patient left, knowing that I still had hours left to do after family activities simmered down for the night.

I loved Clinical Decision Making, most of the Patients BUT Hated the job.

When I talk to clinicians I hear these same fears; "Does it ever get any better, Do I have to leave Medicine to make this hamster wheel stop?"

The "medical system" may or may not change, but you can't wait to find out. You need help NOW, in the clinical environment that you work, with the patients you see, with the administration you work under.

Help is available for you right now, despite the system that you find yourself.

When a high percentage of  Physicians are looking for an exit strategy, there's a problem.

This is a Physician Led Solution to the problem, helping You find YOUR self preserving solutions to the clinical day.

Clinical medicine feels unsustainable when;

• The clinical day spreads into the evening, weekend and holidays. 
• You are feeling disrespected or burdened by more and more demands
• You are required to get 5 stars on a Press Ganey score to unlock financial bonuses.
• You need to meet productivity units and face performance reviews if these are not met.
• You have loss of choice and autonomy in how you would choose to care for the patient
• There are not enough Physicians for the population and therefore patients are not attached and fall through cracks if healthcare and Physicians feel responsible
• When your job expectations, renumeration and position are at the mercy of government policy or employers

 As I worked through the challenges in my clinical day I realized that I couldn't wait around for the system to change, and I didn't have to. It was and is possible to create sustainable clinical medicine within the clinical environment that you work right now.

That's what sustainable clinical medicine means to me - helping Physicians decide that they can stay in medicine because they feel back in control and have a distinction between life and work.

Yes I still as a Rural Family Physician with a full panel of more than 1000 patients, Rural ER and Hospital Inpatients; in addition to helping hundreds of Physicians create sustainable clinical medicine for themselves.

And there is still time for exercise, sleep, family dinners at the table, cooking supper and relaxed evenings with the family.