Dr. Aworunse, middle (in white coat), and her team at the Eye Clinic at Nashville General Hospital at Meharry. She says that it’s important to address both your own feelings of burnout as well as those of your support staff.
Strategies to change your work habits and decrease feelings of burnout.
By Feyi Aworunse, OD, FAAO
August 23, 2023
Have you been feeling less than enthusiastic and energetic lately? Professional burnout could be the cause of your fatigue and discontent.
Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion that results from prolonged stress and can lead to diminished fulfillment and loss of personal identity. In healthcare, burnout can occur for many reasons, such as an overwhelming workload, lack of support, long working hours, difficult patient interactions and high levels of responsibility.
How Do I Know I’m Experiencing Burnout?
Burnout often presents as apathy, low motivation, irritability with others, low patience/compassion, or increased absenteeism. You may find yourself making increased mistakes or experiencing forgetfulness. You might also find yourself having feelings of dread before or during the workday, arriving late or leaving early, and living for the weekend.
Here are a few actions that enable me to avoid feeling burned out.
Cultivate a Supportive Work Environment
This means prioritizing the practice mission, or setting your intentions for the practice, so both you and your staff know the purpose behind the daily grind. That way, you and your team are working toward tangible goals, rather than slogging down a long, dark tunnel with no destination in sight.
How do you do this?
- Have a “huddle” – or a designated space and time for all staff to meet on a regular basis. Doing this gives you a way to proactively discuss and solve problems.
- Ask for feedback – this allows for staff to contribute ideas or solutions to existing problems that may be overlooked by providers, other staff members and management.
- Acknowledge a job well done – even in the mundane. We all know how it feels to be acknowledged for what we do. It can motivate one to do more, and do better, especially when just doing what is “expected” seems out of reach.
- Set realistic expectations – It’s difficult to feel a sense of productivity or accomplishment when expectations are unrealistic or inconsistent. Have clear and mutual objectives for everyone to work toward, emphasizing that each person has a responsibility in the care of patients and culture of the practice.
- Collaboration vs. competition – Emphasize the importance of the collective “team” and each team member’s role and contributions.
- Provide opportunities for professional development or additional training if needed.
When we have a unified goal, it is easier to cultivate a culture of caring, not just for the patient, but for one another. There is less room for isolation or the feeling of “me vs. them.”
A positive attitude is difficult to maintain 100 percent of the time, but there is less room for complaining to one another when there is a culture of respect and mutual support. When issues arise, the discussion then becomes how to work together to find a solution.
Be Organized, Schedule Realistically & Do Not Over-Commit Yourself
Pacing yourself is always important. Some of the things that have helped me:
- Optimize your schedule
- If you are constantly running behind, staying late at the office or taking work home, take a look at your schedule/flow. What are the bottlenecks or hindrances to running efficiently? Do staff have to be retrained in certain areas, are staff members burned out as well? Do you have to modify how many patients you see per day? If that isn’t feasible, get creative with when different types of patients/exams are booked. If you tend to have more energy in the morning, have new patients or longer visits scheduled earlier in the day or vice versa if you are more energized after lunch. My energy levels are highest in the morning, so 60-70 percent of my daily patient load is seen before lunch, with most of my afternoon reserved for established patients or shorter visits.
- When necessary, delegate and/or say no
- Some tasks can only be completed by the provider, but where possible, delegate tasks to senior staff members. Ensure they can take on the responsibility without risking a negative impact on their usual workload.
- Learn to say no if you do not have the capacity to take on more responsibility. If it is a necessity, consider shifting something off of your plate to add more or request additional support before accepting.
- Leave work at work
- This goes beyond working on charts from your kitchen table. When I get in my car to head home from work, I use that time to mentally and emotionally disconnect from the workday. Merely having my keys is the signal to my brain that my work is done for the day.
- If there is an instance where you have to work from home, set clear boundaries as to how long you will work and honor it.
- Unless work-related issues can be solved at home, do not expend energy thinking about it, make a note of it and plan to address it at a designated time.
Prioritize Mental & Physical Well-Being
Your patients and practice profitability are important, but so is your personal well-being.
- I ensure that I am getting regular sleep, physical activity and eating well. Make it a discipline, a constant in your routine.
- Practice mindfulness techniques, or meditation before work. I also find it helpful to mentally reset before each patient encounter – usually as I’m washing my hands, as it allows me to slow down and focus.
- Engage in positive activities outside of work. Spend time with loved ones, hobbies you enjoy and other activities. Making time for yourself can allow you to be more easily available for all your other responsibilities.
- Take the vacation time – I try to take time off on a regular basis to ensure that my time off does not feel like an escape from work, but rather, a time to reset and re-energize so I can return to work with a renewed sense of purpose/self versus dread.
By making space and time for myself away from work, I am able to show up in a more positive and productive way. This helped to break the cycle of running on empty at work and then being mentally and physically exhausted after.
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I am able to think creatively toward finding solutions or developing new ideas to optimize our practice environment for ourselves and our patients.
It’s important to remember that we are so much more than our title or profession. With the level of responsibility we carry each day as optometrists, it is easy to get consumed in the work that we do. If for any reason that work becomes more difficult, frustrating, or overwhelming, it can negatively impact us beyond the office.
Do not underestimate the importance of a healthy lifestyle (sleep, diet, exercise), and take advantage of professional counseling if you need additional support. When we are well, we can take care of our patients well.
Feyi Aworunse, OD, FAAO, practices at the Eye Clinic at Nashville General Hospital at Meharry. To contact her: feyi.aworunse@gmail.com
