Medicine isn't a whole lot of
fun these days. General practice and those specialties
and geographic areas in which the supply of patients exceeds
the number of physicians are significantly tougher than
they used to be. It's not just a matter of time pressures
and too many patients Attacks on the healthcare system,
the declining quality of care, the seemingly endless stories
in the media about medical shortcomings and hospital botch
ups take their toll.
You see your colleagues struggle
with stress until it makes them sick; you watch one
medical marriage after another fail; you worry that
a colleague and friend is drinking too much; you suspect
another has a drug dependency problem. You can be forgiven
for feeling hard done by, but that's not going to help
you much. Instead, why not concentrate on ways to make
life more enjoyable. September is the season in which
the pace picks up ? summer's over, the kids are back
at school, and practice demands accelerate. No better
time to accentuate the positive, wouldn't you agree?
Here are a few things your colleagues have tried to
put the zing back into their working life.
Work less That's right,
less. You're overwhelmed, the appointment book looks
like the galley proofs of Ulysses after James
Joyce had pencilled in most of the work as corrections
in the margins and on scraps of paper ? massive and
nearly incomprehensible. Patients with their sad sack
faces occupy your waiting room like belligerent strikers
on a picket line. Do you have to put up with this? No,
you don't. Cut yourself a little slack. Tell your receptionist
to clear the schedule next Tuesday afternoon and play
hooky. Go to a movie, hit the golf course, go fishing
or simply do nothing at all. Give yourself permission
to take a little time off whenever pressures get to
be too much.
Take a patient to lunch
Make it a good lunch, washed down with a favourite wine,
if that's your preference. Sound outrageous? Business
people take lunch with their clients all the time. It's
good for business. Taking a patient to lunch would be
good medicine for the patient and it'll give you a much
deserved break as well. (Provided you choose an appropriate
patients, that is ? one who won't spend the entire meal
discussing their aches and pains.) Would the tax department
object should you deduct the meal as a practice expense?
Not likely, and if they did you could make a strong
case for the benefits of such a consultation "away from
the distractions from the office."
Buy something nice for your
office Fancy one of those $800 office chairs that
cradles your back like beach sand in the Caribbean?
Buy it. After all, you spend an unconscionable amount
of time sitting in your office so you can't risk putting
your back out. It would put an additional strain on
the healthcare system if you couldn't continue to see
patients at such a frantic pace. The government recognizes
this, which is why they'll pay for half of it come income
tax time. Have a hankering for a new electronic gadget?
Order it today. Anything from a new computer or PDA
to a plasma TV for the waiting room will have the government
figuratively rubbing the hands to split the tab with
you. Too expensive? Go home early and pick up a box
of chocolates and a long-stemmed rose on the way. Your
spouse or partner will be floored ? but don't expect
any help from Revenue Canada for that one.
Me time... at work Learn
to play the piano, the accordion, the guitar, or to
speak Mandarin Chinese. You get the idea. And, of course,
do it during office hours. A Toronto rheumatologist
goes it one better. Every Thursday at four, she has
a masseur come to her office and give her an hour's
treatment.
These are just a few ideas to get
you started. Close your door and take a half hour to
make your own list of how to lighten the pressure this
fall ? it could be the best 30 minutes you'll spend
between now and the December holidays.
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