Physician Burnout Discussion

I have experienced physician burnout more than once. I have seen it in colleagues, including the suicide of fellow medical student, resident, and clinician. All these experiences combined have spurred me to discuss burnout, and find ways to reclaim my humanity and who I am while practicing medicine.
The perceived culture of medicine at the beginning is very different from the 'say yes' culture in medical school, residency, and even becoming an attending. From being bright-eyed and bushy tailed, to being broken down, changing who one is to fit into a system, to recognizing the self again, I discuss burnout and how physicians can regain happiness in work and life.

Dr. Sapna Shah-Haque, MD MBA is a board certified Internal Medicine physician. She was born and raised in Kansas, and attended medical school at the University of Kansas [KU] School of Medicine. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at KU-Wichita as well. After experiencing burnout herself, and watching other physician colleagues burn out, it became a passion of hers to look into different aspects of burnout. While the system does need to change, as it is broken, speaking about and normalizing the topic is a way to reach physicians and shed light on what is not an isolated situation and to help physicians know their worth.

I have experienced burnout and have spoken to several physicians about burnout and how they changed their own narratives. The misconception of medicine and the life of a physician is huge. It is also applicable to healthcare in general. The culture needs to change, but while we try and change it, or wait for it to change, we have to change our own narrative. I shed light on burnout/moral injury, how it is a real phenomenon, how it has affected me/others including my best friend's death by suicide, and bring awareness/tools on how to change the narrative.
I am passionate about it as the loss of Dr. Bicker impacted me immensely.