I’m Dr. Hassan, a Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owner. I help physiatrists start and grow their own profitable practices so they can achieve financial independence and live without limits.
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Physician burnout remains a major challenge for many physicians. It affects your happiness, your personal relationships, career satisfaction, and ultimately patient care. Recently, this issue has gained even more attention, especially due to the global pandemic and its impact on both physicians and patients.
On my journey to building a profitable practice, I’ve had to learn tips and tricks to avoid burnout. Burnout is not only real, but a quiet and damaging condition. Once you find yourself suffering from burnout, it can be difficult to turn it around. This is why it is necessary to take steps to try and avoid burnout.
Here I present three tips to help avoid burnout:
1. Set boundaries. No matter what you do, it’s important to have boundaries. You can’t be available around the clock. This is simply impossible. So to avoid burnout, it’s critical to establish boundaries of the times you will not be available. This means that you won’t be in the office or available by phone or email during this time. If you are in a management position, it might help to post these hours somewhere, including in your email autoreply so people know you will answer as soon as you are available.
2. Have a work-life balance. Besides just setting boundaries, you need to have time to do things that aren’t workplace related. This means you have time for your hobbies, family, and just doing what you love. This doesn’t have to be complicated, and it could be as simple as taking one afternoon a week to go for a walk in your favorite park or getting a massage. Whatever it may be, it needs to be something you can do. If work ever tries to interfere with your time, you have to be willing to put your foot down.
3. Put yourself first. Whatever could be going on at your place of work, if you start feeling ill or feel overwhelmed, you need to put yourself first. This means that, even if your group just started a new project, if you need a mental health day, you take one. You’ll be of no use to your group if you begin to feel burnt out and your mental abilities begin to deteriorate. Putting yourself first is especially important when you start to feel the symptoms of an illness. Although it may be tempting to say it’s just a cold and go to work anyways, this will only make you feel worse and put yourself closer to burnout. Stay home and rest instead.
Overall, in this day and age, it may seem difficult to avoid burnout, but you can as long as you remember to set boundaries, have a work-life balance, and put yourself first. If you follow these tips, not only will you avoid the damage of burnout, but you’ll also go through life feeling less stressed.
I am Dr. Hassan, Board-Certified Physiatrist and Independent Practice Owners. I help physiatrists start and grow their own independent practice so that they can achieve financial independence and live without limits. Please go to businessofrehab.com/guide to pick up the free guide to help you determine the best business entity for your new practice.
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While building your profitable practice, it may be helpful to hire an assistant to help avoid burnout. Check out our blog here to find out the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant.
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Attention, Physiatrists! Stop leaving money on the table. Sign up for the free video series: How To Build A Profitable Practice in 90 Days or Less: http://www.sixtytosuccess.com
