The nature of medical practice dictates that we will have tough cases. Patients will die, we will have to deliver bad news, and we will, at some point, make mistakes. We have high expectations of ourselves so when we get figuratively knocked down, how do we get back up? In this episode, performance coach Jason Brooks guides us through strategies for dealing with the emotional and intellectual fallout of a bad case as well as how to re-engage during a shift when the last thing we feel like doing is seeing the next patient.  

Guest bio:  Jason Brooks Ph.D. is a performance coach helping healthcare providers, athletes, and other high-level performers live better, work better, and be better. Check him out at Phenomenal Docs and connect with Jason: Facebook, Twitter, email [email protected]

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For full show notes of this episode and all sorts of other goodies, visit our podcast website

We discuss:

• The fact that no matter how good you are in your medical practice, you are not immune to a bad outcome [02:20];
• How to manage the sense of failure and the anxiety that naturally occurs when you’re faced with the same situation again [04:00];The importance of getting prepared ahead of time and expecting bad things to happen [06:00]
• Channeling the experience into something positive [08:25];
• Learning to live with and honor these experiences, rather than dread them [10:00];
• Drawing a lesson from a bad event and committing to apply that lesson [16:30];
• The value of talking to someone who is able to receive your emotional turmoil in the immediate aftermath of a bad outcome [18:40];
• Why we shouldn’t think of it as “bouncing back” from a terrible outcome [23:00];
• What do you do when you’ve had a bad outcome, but you don’t have the time to process what’s happened before your next shift [29:00];
• The importance of having a process that you can trust to be effective in helping you shift your attention back to where it needs to be [32:25];
• And more.