Medical Burnout

Burnout… That word is thrown out a lot these days when talking about people being overworked and worn out from their job. Yet it is not often talked about in other aspects of people’s lives. For those suffering with a chronic illness, medical burnout is a very real thing. When you are chronically ill, your days are often filled with doctor appointments, tests, medications, constant symptoms, and tons of hard decisions. This constant can become very overwhelming quickly, and burnout can happen. But unfortunately, when you suffer from medical burnout, you can’t just quit your health condition or take a vacation. It's stuck with you forever. So how do you recover when the decisions are just too overwhelming and you just want a break? That is a good question and one that every chronically ill person has to figure out on his/her own at some point in his/her journey. However, here are my top tips for patients on how to ease the overwhelm and my top tips for doctors on how to support his/her patients when they notice the overwhelm.

For the Chronically Ill:

1. Have a conversation with your doctor about how you are feeling. Your doctor is going to be your best resource when navigating medical burnout. He/She should hopefully have some good suggestions on how to move forward, but if he/she doesn't, explaining how you are feeling will help him/her understand any other requests you make.

2. Ask your doctor to let you know which decisions can wait. There are some health decisions that need to be made in that instance, but there are often many that aren’t as urgent. An example of how to bring this up, “There are a lot of decisions I need to make and I am having a hard time with that right now. Could you tell me which decisions are ones that need to be made immediately and which we can wait on?”

3. Consolidate doctor appointment days. Whenever possible try to make your doctor appointments on the same day or week. Having them spread out over the months tends to make it continually overwhelming rather than one day or week of overwhelm.

4. Set aside a day to handle the administrative (calling to schedule appointments, calling insurance, etc.) work of your chronic illness. Obviously things will come up that you have to do right then and there, but when you can, create a day to handle those things so they are not always hanging over your head.

5. Schedule in things that bring you joy. Whenever possible, schedule activities that bring you joy. This could be a trip to the park or beach, watching your favorite show, having a friend visit, or even going on a vacation. It doesn’t always need to be extravagant, but you need to intentionally do things that bring you joy.

For Healthcare providers:

These are a few things that are extremely helpful for providers to do when his/her patient is experiencing medical burnout.

1. Create space for your patient to express feeling burned out or overwhelmed. Phrases like, “ You have been dealing with so much lately. Please know you can always tell me if you are feeling overwhelmed or exhausted from the decisions.” It can be difficult for a patient to feel safe expressing that overwhelm sometimes, especially if he/she does not have an established relationship with the provider. So creating space for him/her to express his/her feelings is extremely helpful.

2. Offer outs when possible. Having a million tests to do, frequent appointments to attend, or having a ton of decisions to make is often what leads to medical burnout. Patients aren’t always aware when a test, appointment, or decision can be delayed. As his/her healthcare provider you know what is important to do immediately and what can wait. Offer that information to your patient. e.g- “I know we normally have appointments every ____. If it feels like it is too much right now I am comfortable waiting ____.” “I know you’ve been going through a lot of testing, if you need a break we can hold off on _____ and only do the critical ones” “There are lots of decisions that need to be made, however these decisions can wait at the moment”

3. Give encouragement and support through the times where there aren’t really any options for outs. There are going to be times when testing has to be done, the patient needs to be seen frequently, and decisions have to be made. In those moments one of the most helpful things as a patient is having his/her doctor offer encouragement and support. Saying things like “I know this is a really overwhelming time, I am proud of you for continuing to fight through.” “You are doing amazing.” “I am so sorry that this is such a tough time for you, please know I am here to help however I can”.

4. Calling or sending a message to your patient when he/she is going through a really tough time can also be a big support. I cannot tell you how helpful it is when my doctor knows I am going through a really rough patch health wise and he/she personally takes a few minutes out of his/her busy day to call me and check in. Those quick messages or phone calls can be a life saver to patients who are dealing with medical burn out.

5. Don’t give up. Simply having a doctor who continues to fight alongside you when you feel done is huge. So if you are a healthcare provider please don’t give up on your patients.

Unfortunately if you suffer from a chronic illness there is a good chance you will face medical burnout along your journey. Just remember you aren’t alone in feeling overwhelmed and done with making decisions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and support to get you through it.

Disclaimer-

All information provided on this blog is for educational purposes only. Always consult your healthcare provider and/or your insurance provider for your specific situation. This blog does not offer medical advice.