Anna Miller, MD, FAAOS, FACS, FAOA, vice chair of faculty affairs for the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, shared that while her day job is being an orthopaedic trauma surgeon, she is an avid birder and gardener, and loves to read. She delivered "Living a Life as an Ortho Surgeon: Lessons from My Garden," followed by a lively discussion.
Dr. Miller’s remarks concerned priorities, well-being, diversity, patience, and planning.
“All wildlife needs four elements to survive: food, cover, space, and water. For humans, I will add the word ‘dignity.’ Everyone needs and deserves this, just as part of being human. And yet, dignity is something you get from other people.”
She shared that life is finite and we’ll always have to make choices, which is part of what makes your choice unique. “Think about the things you love. What percentage of that work is meaningful and challenging if you are busy?”
Have you heard of the Eisenhower Box? President Eisenhower created a way for himself to determine what is important because often it is seldom urgent, and what is critical is rarely necessary. This resulted in a simple four-box grid encouraging a label for the scenario: do, decide, delegate, delete.
“We should employ this quick analysis to help us prioritize our lives,” said Dr. Miller. She continued, “According to the National Academy of Medicine, ‘400 U.S. physicians take their own lives every year, and we need to break the culture of silence on physician suicide.”
Suicide rates for physicians are much higher than the general population (2.3x females and 1.4x males). Almost one-fourth of surgical trainees have suicidal thoughts at some point in their residency.
How do we help?
The NCAA Sports Science Institute said that helping our colleagues involves five separate decisions: notice the event, interpret the event as a problem, assume personal responsibility, know how to help, and implement the help.
Why don’t people help?
The ACGME Symposium on Physician Well-being shared the following reasons: assumed it wasn’t a problem, it was none of my business, thought someone else would do something, believed others weren’t bothered, didn’t know when/how to intervene, or felt my safety would be at risk.
Our best antidotes: notice and talk about it. “Medical practitioners commonly suffer from burnout and compassion fatigue. I have found that team building is a healthy and proactive tool to strengthen everyone. There is safety in numbers.”
It’s challenging to understand ‘why moral injury?’ Burnout is a problem with the physician, whereas moral injury is a problem within the system. “Addressing the drivers of moral injury on a large scale may be the most effective preventative treatment for its cumulative effects among health care providers.”
How can medical facilities and institutions become more proactive?
- Support a diverse community of employees throughout the changing seasons.
- Manage the community in which they lie.
- Remove carbon from the atmosphere where it is wreaking havoc on the earth’s climate.
- Provide energy for the local intellectual community.
According to the American College of Physicians, “A diverse health care workforce that is more representative of the patients it serves is crucial to promote understanding among physicians and other health care professionals and patients, facilitates quality care, and promotes equity in the health care system.”
Solutions? Dr. Miller suggested, “Create a larger pool of qualified minority applicants for medical school and improve enrollment and graduation rates of minority students.” Biodiversity underpins everything in a healthy society.
She concluded, “Set yourself up for success – everyone should be able to achieve their full health potential. It requires patience and planning and incorporating the concept of essentialism. List your priorities and hold firm.”
View Dr. Miller’s book, movie, and app recommendations highlighted in her remarks.